HEALTH STATUS AND RISK FACTORS FOR NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES AMONG SCHOOLCHILDREN IN PRIMORSKY KRAY

Abstract

Introduction: High prevalence of behavioral and lifestyle risk factors have been associated with unfavorable trends in general health of Russian children. Aim: To assess health status of schoolchildren in Primorsky kray (Russian Far East) and to study the prevalence of risk factors for the development of chronic non-communicable diseases. Methods: Altogether, 10268 children aged 7 to 17 years were examined in 2016-2018 at the regional health center for children in Vladivostok. We assessed the prevalence of the most common risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases, namely, hyperglycemia, hypercholesterolemia, excess body weight, lack of body weight, low physical activity, stress, unhealthy nutrition, abnormal blood pressure and smoking. Differences in the prevalence of risk factors between gender, age-groups and years of assessment were studied using Pearson's chi-squared test. Results: The proportion of healthy children decreased from 32.6 % to 24.3 % over the years of the study. The proportion of children in the 2nd health group increased from 67.4 % to 75.7. Unhealthy nutrition, overweight and obesity, stress, low physical activity were the most prevalent risk factors. Significant differences in the proportions of risk factors were observed between genders, age-groups and years of observation. Conclusions: Our results may be of practical significance for the development of individual and population health promotion- and disease prevention programs for schoolchildren with further going aim to prevent non-communicable diseases in the Russian Far East