Sexual differences in the body composition of adolescent medical students living in the Penza region

Abstract

Objective: to identify gender differences in the body composition of adolescent medical students living in the Penza region. Material and methods. The object of the study were 239 people (97 boys and 142 girls) aged 16-21, born in the period 1999-2004 and permanently residing in the city of Penza and the Penza region. For the study, so-matometry was carried out according to the method of V. V. Bunak with subsequent somatotyping by the method of indices and calculation of the component composition of the body (according to the method of J. Matejka). Results. Absolute indicators of the component composition of the body of young men: the mass of the fat component is 16.74 (11.60; 25.68) kg, the mass of the bone component is 9.67 ± 0.18 kg, the mass of the muscle component is 26.11 (20.46; 31.78) kg. In girls, these indicators had the following values: the mass of the fat component was 19.8 (14.81; 26.12) kg, the mass of the bone component was 8.53 (7.34; 9.47) kg, the mass of the muscle component was 14.63 (10.53; 18.68) kg. Conclusions. For boys, there is a significant predominance of weight and height indicators (by 7% and 18.9%, respectively) and the muscular component of the body (by 44% among absolute indicators and 1.4 times among relative ones), for girls — the values of skin-fat folds (by 11.8% and 42.9%) and the fat component of the body (by 15.5% among absolute indicators and 1.4 times among relative ones).