title: Somatotype analysis of physically active individuals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study aimed at comparing demographic variables, physical activity level, and health-related anthropometric indicators according to somatotype among physically active individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, in which the sample consisted of 304 individuals, who are users of the jogging track at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in Recife, state of Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. Somatotypes were analyzed using the anthropometric technique proposed by Heath & Carter (1990). To assess physical activity level, we used the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). We used as health-related anthropometric indicators: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and conicity index (CI). We used descriptive statistics to characterize the sample, and then used a multivariate analysis of variance (a = 0.05) to test for differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the somatotype analysis, we observed among women significant predominance of the endomorphy and lower predominance of the ectomorphy in comparison to men. In the age group ≤ 29 years significantly lower values were found for endomorphy than in other age groups. Irregularly active individuals had significantly lower values of endomorphy. We observed that individuals with obesity and risk in WHR, WC and CI had higher scores of endomorphy and mesomorphy and lower scores of ectomorphy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The somatotype of physically active individuals in the present study raises health concern, mainly related to high relative adiposity represented by endomorphy.
authors.affiliation: Kineanthropometry Laboratory of Physical Activity and Sports Performance (LACADE) Department of Physical Education Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: A H S
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: S A G
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: P J P
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Batista
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001824:Body Constitution / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D013008:Somatotypes / Q000502:physiology*