Assessment of body mass formation in schoolchildren aged 7–17 in forty subjects of the Russian Federation

Relevance. The leading indicator reflecting the state of physical development of children is body weight, which characterizes the development of the musculoskeletal system, subcutaneous fat, and internal organs. Objective: to assess the formation of body weight in schoolchildren aged 7–17 in forty constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Materials and methods. The study included 40 regions of the Russian Federation located in all Federal Districts. The regions were selected in such a way that almost every age and sex group would be presented with body weight indicators (kg) for at least 100 schoolchildren aged 7–17. Results and discussion. The analysis of age-sex curves of body weight showed that in almost all 40 regions there is a smooth increase in body length with age in both boys and girls, which is consistent with biological patterns such as directionality, gradualness, irreversibility, heteromorphism and heterochrony. In boys, in almost all age groups and at the time of completion of growth processes, the body weight indicator reliably (p≤ 0.05) exceeds the indicators in girls, which is consistent with such a pattern as the dependence of growth and development on sex (sexual) dimorphism. Conclusion. We can discuss the harmonious flow of growth and development processes in the analyzed regions.