Effect of body mass index and age on visual reaction time in recreational badminton players. A cross-sectional study

Purpose: To analyse the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and reaction time in recreational badminton players. Methodology: 52 healthy recreational badminton players who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected for a cross sectional study. Reaction time and body mass index were evaluated for each subject using standardised test procedures and the degree and direction of the relationship between linear related variables was calculated using Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results: Out of 52 subjects, 37 were males (71.15%) 15 were females (28.85%). Mean age was 31.94 years (SD±7.14). Mean BMI was 24.61kg/m² (SD±3.95). Karl Pearson correlation coefficient between BMI and reaction time was 0.308 (p = 0.026) and 0.500 (p= 0.000) between age and reaction time. Conclusion: From the results we conclude that there is a weak to moderate positive correlation between body mass index and reaction time in recreational badminton players. A strong positive correlation was found between age and reaction time.