[The informative value of international standards in evaluating the physical development of Ukrainian schoolchildren].

The physical development of 1347 rural schoolchildren was evaluated by the WHO international (BMI-for-age Z scores) and Ukrainian (intergroup regression scales) standards. Only every two of the children with normal physical development (by the WHO version) had moderate harmonious development. Every 10 "normal" group schoolchildren were stated to have underweight and 2-3% of the children were overweight. Among the 17-year-old girls, underweight was encountered 4 times more frequently than that in the boys of the same age, which confirms social influence on the formation of body proportions in the present-day rural girls. The specific features of physical development and the signs of gracialization processes were established in the pediatric population. Physical development evaluation by the body mass index may be employed in some (pediatric, sportive) branches of medicine, but the results of evaluation by the WHO international standards fail to provide objective knowledge of the status of physical development and its harmonicity as a whole. Intergroup regression scales are proposed to be used to evaluate physical development.