Children's growth and body mass in the north, sub-Arctic and Arctic

Abstract

There is very little data in world literature concerning the peculiarities of physical development of children in the high-latitude regions. In the meantime, such kinds of research is both of scientific and humanitarian interest. It is important to realize the specifics of growth of children living in the Arctic and sharp continental climate in view of the need to understand the biology of populations of extreme and sub-extreme regions. Such material would be of practical use for evaluation of fitness among children belonging to various ethnic groups of the north.

The present paper is a sort of review of the data obtained by us in the course of research of growth and development of children in the northern regions of Russia undertaken since 1986. The whole bulk of material is too big and diverse to be presented in one single article. Part of the material is presented in the publication by A. Kozlov & G. Vershubsky (1999). Right now we shall talk only about age dynamics of body mass and mass-height index for children and teenagers from age 6 through 17.