Comparative characteristics of the body mass index of young persons in different regions of Russia

BACKGROUND: Being one of the aspects of the morphological constitution, the component composition of the body reflects the state of metabolic processes in the body and can serve as a kind of predictor of the development of various pathological conditions. One of the most accessible and widely used methods for researchers is the determination of the body mass index, which ensures the comparability of the results obtained by different authors. AIM: To systematize and compare the literature data of domestic and foreign authors on the body mass index of young people and its relationship with the degree of urbanization and geography of residence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The original articles and reviews posted in the scientometric databases PubMed, Google Scholar and eLIBRARY.RU for the last 20 years are analyzed. An analysis of the results of a survey of medical students from Russian universities was carried out depending on the region of residence and the population of the city. RESULTS: It was revealed that the interest of the scientific community in the study of body composition is constantly growing: every next year the total number of publications on body composition increases by an average of 24% compared to the previous year. An increase in the proportion of students with a low body mass index was noted as the number of the city grew and its shift in the direction from the eastern regions of the Russian Federation to the western ones. The proportion of students with a normal body mass index decreases as the population of the city in which the medical school is located increases. CONCLUSION: According to our analysis of the results of a survey of medical students in Russia, body mass index is associated with the degree of urbanization and has geographical features.