Morphofunctional features of the first-year Tuvan State University students from urban and rural areas

Introduction. Features and physiological rules of the processes occurring in the human body when exposed to various extreme environmental factors, including social, have not been fully explored. The health status of native and alien population of Siberian territories with uncomfortable climate and geographic conditions requires special control in order to provide preventive and therapeutic measures. The goal of this research was to evaluate the morphofunctional status of the first-year university students who came from rural and urban areas of the Republic of Tyva. Materials and Methods. A complex study of the morphofunctional status of the first-year student's organism arriving to study at Tuvan State University has been conducted. Morphological and functional parameters were identified using standard techniques: 1) anthropometric parameters: length (BL), weight (BW) of the body, chest girth (CG); 2) functional parameters: vital lung capacity (VLC), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP). Weight to height ratio and body type were identified by means of anthropometric data. Cardio-respiratory assessment has been completed. Life index (LI), ratio VLC to functional VLC (VLC/FVLC), double product (DP), blood circulation index (BCI) were calculated. Results. Differences between physical development and functional reserves of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems of students of both sexes and different social groups were found. Urban students were taller, linear and had larger proportions of extreme body variants - asthenic and hypersthenic. Gender physical development differences were more expressed in urban students compared to rural. Gender differences in the distribution of constitutional types were noted. Despite the prevalence of normosthenic type constitution in both gender and social groups, females were represented mostly by asthenic type, while hyperstenic type prevailed among males. Exertion of respiratory system function was noted in both urban and rural students. However, better physiometric indices of the respiratory system were found in rural males and urban females. Rural students had higher functional reserves of Cardio-respiratory system calculated on the base of DP and parameter of blood circulation effectiveness. Conclusion. Ethnic-national, climate-geographic and social life conditions have an impact on the development of morphological and functional parameters of Tuvan students. It was detected that rural students had lower body length, especially among the male population, but higher reserves of cardio-respiratory system. Urban environment promotes the increase of extreme body variants proportion. Features of the morphological and functional status of students' organism allows to find out the early stages of maladaptive or pathological disabilities and to develop approaches towards prevention and treatment of occurring disorders.