[Current health status of children and adolescents and the role of socio-medical factors in its formation].

This paper summarizes results of research carried out at the Institute of Hygiene and Health Protection of Children and Adolescents during the last 15 years. Specifically, it presents data of longitudinal studies involving 1-5-form schoolchildren residing in Moscow. Dynamic studies of morbidity and physical development in 1-2-grade schoolchildren suggest stressful effect of adaptation to increasing teaching loads. In-depth studies of senior schoolchildren conducted in 1989-2005 revealed long-standing unfavourable trends in their health status including marked deterioration of functional activities and physical development, increased prevalence of chronic diseases, and changes in the overall morbidity structure. Main schooling-dependent risk factors are identified, such as excess academic loads and authoritarian teaching style (responsible for psychoemotional stress), hypokinesia, and malnutrition during school hours. Incidence of certain diseases and functional disorders among adolescents is shown to correlate with the use of alcohol and tobacco.