[Study of arterial pressure, body weight, motor activity and prevalence of smoking in two independent samples of Moscow schoolchildren 11 and 14 years of age].

The paper treats the results of a comparative 6-year study of arterial blood pressure, body weight, motor activity, and tobacco-smoking prevalence with respect to two representative samples of schoolchildren aged 11 and 14 years living in one of the districts of Moscow. A total of 1999 and 1219 persons were examined. The scope of examination amounted to 88 to 93 percent. From 1978-1980 to 1985-1986 the levels of systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure increased whereas the physical activity of the schoolchildren of the same age declined. The situation with tobacco-smoking changed towards better. Thus the number of tobacco-smoking boys aged 14 years reduced almost 2-fold in spite of the lack of any prophylactic interventions in that population.