Peculiarities of length-weight somatometric indices in school-age children of the industrial center

Introduction. Children’s health is of particular value, being a medical, biological and social and labour potential for any state. Objective and informative health indices include parameters of the physical development. The aim of the study is to assess length-weight somatometric indices in children studying in general educational institutions of Ulan-Ude. Materials and methods. The sample of respondents included nine hundred thirty two school-age children. Variables were sampled for length and weight, body mass index was calculated and compared with WHO criteria. Descriptive statistics are expressed as mean and standard deviation, Student’s t-test was used to compare means. Results. Among children of the industrial center, persons with harmonious physical development predominate (51.9±2.6%). Among the variants of disharmonious physical development in boys and girls, excessive body weight (27.3±2.3% and 22.9±1.9) and high height (12.6±1.7% and 14±1.6%, respectively) prevailed. The proportion of other variants of disharmony (low length, body weight deficit and their combination) is small. The phenomena of sexual dimorphism are quite pronounced in children – acceleration of growth differed from the general patterns earlier by 2–3 years. Limitations. The results of the study have limitations in relation to children with various health disorders. Given the small number of age groups, as well as the fact that children of one industrial center were examined, the diagnostic significance of the data obtained may be less objective. Conclusion. Regional features of growth-weight somatometric indices are important to timely identify children with disharmonious development as early as possible to prevent long-term consequences.