Determining the Relationship between General Health Condition, Depression Prevalence and Body Mass Index in Athlete and Non-Athlete Students of University of Tehran

The purpose of this study was to investigate general health condition, outbreak of depression and body mass index (BMI) in athlete and non-athlete students of Tehran University. Both female and male junior students participated in this study and 200 students, 50 athletes and 50 non-athletes were selected. In order to determine general health and outbreak of depression, questionnaires of general health and Beck's depression test were used, and in order to determine BMI, height and weight of the subjects were measured. In order to analyze the data, two-way ANOVA test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used. The results of this study showed no significant difference in the average value of BMI between athlete and non-athlete students based on their gender (P=0.09), but there was a significant difference in BMI between female and male students. No significant interaction was observed between gender and physical activity in BMI index. There was a significant difference in general health between athlete and non-athlete students based on their gender (P=0.007). There were no significant differences among general health subscales, BMI and Beck scores of students based on their gender and physical activity. However, there was a significant relationship between GHQ28 subscales and Beck scores based on gender and physical activity.