Objective To understand the differences between Chinese and Southeast Asian female college students in physical activity level and bone density, and to explore the correlation between physical activity level and bone mineral density. Methods 373 female college students of Guangxi Medical University, including 271 from China, and 102 from Southeast Asia, were randomly selected. Information on physical activity in the past week was collected using the International Physical Fitness Questionnaire (Chinese version), and bone mineral density of both heels was measured using GE express. We used SPSS 22.0 software for statistical analysis. Results (1) Body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio of Southeast Asian students were slightly higher than those of Chinese undergraduates. The bone quality index (BQI), T-score and Z-score of Southeast Asian students were lower than those of Chinese undergraduates. The differences in T-score and Z-score between the two groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). (2) After adjusting for age, height, weight, BMI, waist-hip ratio, the differences in BQI, T-score and Z-score remained significant between undergraduates from China and Southeast Asian countries (P<0.05), and bone density of Chinese students was higher than that of the Southeast Asian students. (3) Among the different levels of physical activity, only physical activity of high intensity had significant association with bone mineral density (P<0.05), and the other three aspects including walking, moderate intensity physical activity, and total level of physical activity were not significantly associated with bone mineral density (P>0.05). (4)There were no statistically significant differences in the four aspects of activity (walking, moderate intensity, high intensity and overall physical activity) between Chinese female college students and Southeast Asian female college students (P>0.05). Conclusion The bone mineral density of Chinese female college students was better than that of Southeast Asian female students. The level of high intensity physical activity had a positive impact on the increase of bone mineral density. |