The role of human constitutional type in forming of bodymass excess and deficite in children of various ages

Abstract

Nowadays there are no decicive descriptions of constitutional features and body mass deviations in a narrow group taking into consideration their sex, age, habitation region, and a concrete type of body mass deficit or excess. The present study focuses at comparative assessment of number and frequency of pronounced deficit, deficit, nominally normal body mass, preobesity and obesity in junior schoolchildren and adolescents with lepto-, meso- and hypersomal somatotype. All in all 274 persons took part in the study, 130 of junior schoolchildren aged 7 to 9 years (64 boys and 66 girls) as well as 142 adolescents 1417 years old (65 boys and 77 girls). Somatotype was determined in all children with the help of I.I. Salivon and V.A. Melniks method, as well as body mass index was calculated. Comparing the number of children with various deviations of body mass in case of lepto- meso- and hypersomal somatotype was accomplished with the help of precise Fishers criterion for conjugated features tables 3 5. In boys and girls of junior school age with leptosomal (boys 62%, girls 81%) somatotype body mass deficit was predominant, while in adolescents with leptosomal somatotype body mass deficit was found in 37% boys and 15% of girls. Hypersomal boys form obesity and excessive body mass when they enter adolescence. On the other hand 40% girls of junior school age with hypersomal somatotype are already obese and 100% of them preserve obesity till puberty. The results of the study may be useful for specifying individual recommendations for children with metabolic pathology at pre-hospital stage for correction of both excess and deficit of body mass should be made prior to entering puberty.