[The physical development of children living in a settlement with a high nitrate content in the drinking water]

The object of the present study is analysis of the physical development of children, living permanently in the village of Karadzhalovo, community of Parvomay, whose drinking water contains abnormal concentration of nitrates. For the period 1983-1994 the nitrate content in the drinking water of the village varies within the limits of 67.0 to 112.6 mg/dm3. Complex evaluation of the physical development of 162 children aged from 3 to 16 years was carried out on the indices level of development of stature and degree of harmony of the body mass. The data were compared with the norms for physical development of the Bulgarian children. 90.4% of the boys and 86.8% of the girls are with good physical development. With satisfactory development are 8.5% of the boys and 13.2% of the girls. Only 1.1% of the boys are with poor physical development, while among the girls there is no poor physical development. No reliable correlative dependency was established between the nitrate content of the drinking water and the stature and weight of the examined children.