Index assessment of the physical development of newborns in the Altai Territory during the identification of regional features

Abstract

The physical development of children is rightfully considered one of the most important criteria for assessing health, since it takes into account not only the influence of environmental factors of abiotic and biotic nature, the socio-economic state of the region of residence, the presence or absence of diseases, but also hereditary predisposition, including developmental features characteristic of different ethnic groups. The physical development of newborns is one of the main indicators of the health of the child population and the general population in need of constant monitoring, which would allow to determine the features of growth and development formed in the conditions of a certain lifestyle and habitat of the mother during pregnancy, timely identify deviations from the normal level of physical development and develop measures to prevent and eliminate violations. The aim of the study was to conduct an index assessment of the physical development of newborns to identify regional characteristics. The article presents an index assessment of the physical development of newborns in the Altai Territory, by calculating the mass-growth index (Ketle-I) and the Erisman index. The study included full-term newborns of both sexes (776 girls and 1249 boys) born during 2014 in a maternity hospital in Barnaul. The following regional features of the physical development of newborns were established for the region: disharmonious development by the type of elongation, inconsistencies of longitudinal dimensions with transverse ones, as well as a high incidence of prenatal hypotrophy in children born in the cold months of the year, most likely explained by eating disorders, nutritional imbalance, as well as vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy in their mothers. The data obtained can be applied in the compilation of regional centile tables along with other methods of assessing the physical development of newborns.