Overweight and obesity among rural schoolchildren of the Russian Arctic and North in 1994–2019

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There was not enough information on the spread of obesity among schoolchildren in rural settlements and small towns of Northern Russia in recent years. This study aimed to trace the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged 617 years living in rural areas of Northern Russia between 1994 and 2019.
 METHODS: Data, including sex, age, body weight, and stature, were collected during regular medical examinations of 7548 children aged 617 years living in the rural settlements of Murmansk Oblast, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Komi Republic, Komi-Permyak Okrug in 1994, 19971998, 20052009, and 20162019. Individual assessments were made using body mass indices according to the procedures and cutoffs recommended by the World Health Organization.
 RESULTS: The prevalence of excess body weight has substantially increased in all localities. It was 47% (including 0.6%0.8% obesity) in 19941998, 7.518.7% (obesity 0.95.0%) in 20052009, and 23.926.6% (obesity 7.711.9%) in 20162019. As 2019 data showed, no difference was found between schoolchildren residing in rural settlements, small towns, large industrial centers, and Moscow.
 CONCLUSION: A rapid spread of overweight and obesity among Russian children occurred in the second decade of the 21st century. The northern populations encounter this process in the same degree and extent as others. Geographic (Arctic, non-Arctic North, and Central Russia) and socioeconomic (various levels of urbanization) factors do not play a major role in that negative dynamics.