Variation of Indicators of Newborn Physical Development as a Manifestation of Adaptive Self-Organization of Their Systems to Changing Environmental Conditions

Abstract

Introduction: Many published data on variability of anthropometric characteristics of newborns related to the influence of adverse environmental factors during their antenatal development have been accumulated by now. The purpose of our work was to study the relationship between certain parameters of antenatal physical development of newborns and varying environmental and climatic conditions. Materials and methods: Anthropometric measurements were taken in the delivery room immediately after birth and then assessed against environmental and climatic characteristics of the antenatal period. Results: We established the relationship between the exposure to different environmental and climatic factors, including radiation, during the antenatal period and anthropometric characteristics of the examined newborns. We observed a quantitative variety of signs and found that the body mass was most “sensitive” to the impact of adverse environmental factors. At the same time, the phenogenetic analysis helped establish a significant effect of atmospheric pressure on the body mass. The effects of radiation exposure were, to a greater extent, associated with the signs of influence of both environmental (including the total and ultraviolet radiation – in 57.3 % and 67.8 % of cases, respectively) and genetic factors (in 42.7 % and 32.2 % of cases, respectively). Conclusion: The established genotype-environment effects of exposures to changing environmental and climatic conditions prove the importance of continuing longitudinal observations of the examined infants using a cytogenetic analysis.