No abstract

The growth and maturation of a child’s body are going on continuously, but unevenly. Therefore, children of the same age may have different growth and functional abilities. On the initiative of the Latvian government, a pilot project was launched, which aims to evaluate the readiness of children to start school at the age of six as well as compare physical development, separate functional abilities, and posture for six and seven-year-old children of regions of Latvia and Rīga preschool educational institutions. The study involved 918 children, who were divided into two groups — Rīga (R) and regions of Latvia (RL). Respondents in each group were further divided by age — six- and seven-year-olds, and by sex. Anthropometric parameters were determined for each individual’s height, weight, chest circumference, lung vital capacity (PVC), forearm flexor muscle strength, and posture. In our study, the mean values of height for six-year-old girls were: R – 117.6 ± 5.8 cm, RL – 117.1 ± 6.3 cm, for boys R – 118.7 ± 5.0 cm, RL – 118.6 ± 5.1 cm. Seven-year-old children had an average increase in chest circumference of 1 to 2 cm, both by sex and by place of residence. Symmetrical posture was observed only for six-year-old children in 23.1% of cases and 17.1% of seven-year-old children. 59.5% of the children in the study group spent more than one hour a day watching TV, and 66.3% played computer games every day. The results of the study showed that children aged six and seven years grew and functionally developed very differently and individually. These age groups of children did not have accelerated growth ages; there were no large annual increases. A relatively small sex dimorphism was observed. The readiness of six-year-old children to start school should be assessed very individually by the child’s parents in collaboration with the pediatrician.

Physical inactivity, screen time and sedentary behaviour among young children is increasing. These factors have an impact on future health conditions increasing the risk of metabolic, cardiovascular and posture diseases. The World Health Organization has issued the guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children of less than 5 years of age that shows contributing factors for healthy individuals starting from early childhood. Only few studies show the true state of posture diseases among preschool children. In our study we tried to find the problems of posture symmetry and type among young children for first time in Latvia. The conclusions after the study were similar to tendencies in the world. The posture disorders and asymmetrical posture increased with the age of children and sedentary behaviour (TV and computer) had a negative impact on the posture status.

According to a statistical review (2018) in Latvia, there are more than one thousand women (n = 1266) with the diagnosis of breast cancer. Assessments of anthropometrical parameters were made according to the World Health Organisation recommendations for morbidity risk analysis. The aim of the study was to determine the differences and changes of anthropometric parameters and indices in a control group and in a clinical group (initial oncological diagnosis without treatment intervention). We examined women in their postmenopausal period. The control group included apparently healthy women (n = 181) and the clinical group included women (n = 44) with initial oncological diagnosis (breast cancer 1st and 2nd stage). In order to assess body anthropometric characteristics we used the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist/height ratio and skin fold thickness measurement. The study results were assessed using statistical analyses in the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0 software: Shapiro–Wilk and Mann–Whitney tests with a two-tailed p-value < 0.05). The analysis of statistical data showed that, despite the low number of patients in the clinical group, we found a significantly lower waist-to-hip ratio, skinfold thickness above m. biceps brachii, skinfold thickness above m. triceps brachii, and subscapular and suprailiac skin fold thickness in this group.