[Anthropometric indicators of physical development and nutritional status employed in hygiene practice in Russia]

In the current review, we consider the main working methods of Russian hygienists to assess anthropometric indices using a) regional data on (populational) variability of the concerning measurements and b) unified reference data applicable in most regions. An analysis showed that in most cases, the regional standards are based on average values and variabilities derived from a local sample, which can not serve as a working normative. As a result, these so called "standards" do not provide information on how healthy children should develop, and the assessments inferred are difficult to integrate to draw a picture for the whole country. In 2017, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation recommended the use of the WHO Child Growth Standards and the WHO Growth Reference for the purpose of medical screenings in children and adolescents. These data sets reflect the conditions, that healthy children should attain growing in supportive environment, with adequate nutrition and care. The single set of criteria will allow unifying the data collected in different regions, which is a necessity in communal hygiene and medical statistics. However, additional research is needed to check the validity of the WHO standards and reference to assess physical development and nutritional status in highly anthropologically specific populations, in particular in those indigenous and long-ago adapted to the sharply continental or Arctic climate.