Pathology of digestive organs and changes in body weight in preschool and school-age children

Introduction. In children aged up to 14 years the prevalence of diseases of the digestive system in children in the Russian Federation is one of the highest, amounting to 4464.7 cases per 100,000 population in 2023. Pathology of the digestive tract contributes to weight deviations and affects the physical development in children. The aim of the work: to determine the prevalence of digestive organs and body weight changes in preschool and school-age children. Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of data from electronic medical records of 456 preschool and school-age children (from 3 to 18 years old) observed in children’s polyclinics of the Moscow City Department of Health was carried out. The copying data was entered into the SPSS software, version 23 (USA), in which a statistical analysis was performed. Results. I 328 (71.9%) children have a pathology of the gastrointestinal tract, 25 (5.5%) children were found to have several diseases at the same time (mainly cholecystitis in combination with gastritis). 71 (21.6%) children were diagnosed with gastritis, 68 (14.9%) had peptic ulcer disease, 47 (10.4%) had gastroesophageal reflux disease (GRD), 25 (5.5%) had cholecystitis combined with gastritis, 18 (3.9%) had cholecystitis, 15 (3.4%) — other forms of pathology of the gastrointestinal tract, and 7 (1.5%) — colitis. 145 (44.2%) children had unspecified forms of digestive pathology, coded according to ICD-10 as K31.9/K59.8/K59.9. Body weight changes were detected in 336 (73.7%) children, of which 192 (42.1%) children were diagnosed with overweight, 144 (31.6%) were underweight. 312 (68.2%) children had a burdened family history of digestive pathology. Conclusion. The established patterns indicate to the need to increase the effectiveness of the prevention of eating disorders in preschool and school-age children and the importance of regular medical examinations of children during their rapid growth.