A characteristic feature of the "global obesity epidemic" in recent decades is the rapid spread of overweight among the rural population. However, there is a lack of objective data on how this process is unfolding in the northern and Arctic regions of the Russian Federation. The aim of the work was to analyze the prevalence of malnutrition and rates of overweight and obesity in children living in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra (KhMAO) and the Komi Republic (KR). Material and methods. We conducted a study of the nutritional status of rural children in the northern regions of the Russian Federation in 2018-2019. The subjects of the study were children aged 3-17 years of KhMAO, ethnic Khanty, Mansi and of various non-indigenous descent in small remote settlements (n=302) and 956 children in the administrative center of the northern district, a town-type residency. We also examined 7-17-year-old children (n=628) in large settlements of the KR, over 90% of them were ethnic Komi. For each individual, body mass index values (BMI) were calculated. The nutritional status was assessed by comparing the individual BMI with the age and sex specific standards set by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (2017). Results and discussion. 74.4% of children aged 3-6 in KhMAO, and 70% of the 7-17-year-old children of KR and KhMAO meet the standards for their age-sex groups; 6.1% of children aged 3-17 are underweight and 19.5% are overweight. Among the 7-17-year-olds, the ratio of the underweight and overweight (including obese) differs significantly in the settlement dwellers of the KR from that in the living in small settlements of KhMAO (p=0.004), as well as in the group of town residents of KhMAO (p=0.017). The children of the KR have slightly higher percentage of the overweight and obese (26.6 vs 25.7 and 24.8% in the town and settlements of KhMAO, respectively), but significantly lower percentage of those who are underweight (1.9 vs 5.0 and 6.8%). The proportion of obese schoolchildren in small remote settlements of KhMAO is higher than that in the large settlements of KhMAO and in large settlements of the KR (13.1, 7.7 and 9.2%, respectively). Conclusion. There were no differences found between ethnic groups, however the role of social and anthropological factors in the formation of the nutritional status differences between the indigenous and non-indigenous children in Western Siberia calls for further investigation.
Keywords: BMI; body mass index; indigenous people of the North; malnutrition; obesity.
Copyright© GEOTAR-Media Publishing Group.