Valery A. Batsevich

Introduction. The knowledge about the prevalence of hand osteoarthritis (OA) in different populations, the pattern of joint involvement, and the association with age, sex, and weight might be helpful in the understanding of the etiology and in developing the prevention strategy of hand OA. It can be important from a public health perspective. The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and pattern of radiographic hand OA in the Turkmen community-based sample and its association with age, sex, and body mass index.

Materials and methods. The study population was comprised of Turkmens (277 males and 427 females, aged 19–90 years). Radiographic hand OA was evaluated for 14 joints of each hand according to the Kellgren and Lawrence grading scheme. Statistical analyses included prevalence estimation, linear regression, and χ2 tests.

Results. 13.8% of individuals before age 36 had at least one joint with OA, and the prevalence reached 100% after age 65. After adjustment for age, we found that females with severe obesity have a higher risk of development of radiographic hand OA than those with normal weight (OR(95%CI): 3.88 (1.20-12.60)).

Conclusion. In the present study, after adjusting for age, we found that in men there was no association between the prevalence of hand OA and BMI. However, women with severe obesity are almost four times more likely to develop hand OA than women of normal weight. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. This work is devoted to the study of some aspects of age and (or) temporal variability of a number of morphological features of the head and face in the adult Chuvash population in Bashkiria. The objectives of the study were to analyze and assess the presence and degree of morphological changes on the skull of an adult according to a number of signs included in the program on ethnic anthropology, as well as to study their possible connection with age-related transformations or acceleration of development and secular trend.

Materials and methods. The surveys were conducted in two districts of Bashkiria, Aurgazinsky and Bizhbulyaksky, in villages with a predominantly Chuvash population. The material was collected in 1999, in total, data were obtained for 361 men and 352 women born from 1915 to 1980. The paper studied the temporal and age variability of the following features: longitudinal, transverse, zygomatic and mandibular dimeters, the smallest width of the forehead, measured the morphological height of the face (from the nasion) and the circumference of the head, calculated the head index. The material was collected by the same researcher. The data were divided into 11 age groups in increments of 5 years, starting in 1925. In each group, the average values of the features and standard deviations were calculated. For all signs, scatter diagrams of the values of signs vs year of birth are presented.

Results and discussion. The most stable signs in terms of age were the minimal width of the forehead, head circumference and mandibular diameters. The magnitude of the head index varies significantly due to age-related changes in the transverse and longitudinal diameters of the head, which determine the magnitude of the index. The age-related decrease or stable condition of the head pointer, according to G.L. Hit’ [1968], contradicts our observations. For most indicators, with the exception of morphological height of the face and zygomatic diameter, no pronounced changes were found, which may be due to local features of the development of the examined group.

Conclusion. The conducted studies have shown that for a more thorough study of the problem under consideration, it is necessary to attract additional materials collected at different times and under different environmental conditions for a close group (for example, in stable populations of Khalkha Mongols). © 2023.This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. A number of studies have shown that the Khalka rural pastoral population of Mongolia leading a traditional lifestyle is not characterized by acceleration of development and a secular trend in somatic characteristics of the body. The purpose is to study the morphological variability of head and face features in the adult rural Khalkha-Mongolian population against the background of variability of the same features in the Chuvash group and try to catch acceleration trends based on measuring head features.

Materials and methods. The data (370 men and 355 women aged 18-60) was obtained during anthropoecological expeditions in 1986-1990 in 4 Khalkha-Mongolian somons. As a comparative material, data on the Chuvash of Bashkiria were used. Regression analysis was applied. The age-related variability of normalized values of cephalometric traits was assessed using variance analysis. For the Mongolian and Chuvash populations, the coefficients of sexual dimorphism of individual features of the face and head (according to V. Deryabin`s formula), as well as the Mahalanobis distance between female and male samples were determined.

Results and discussion. For the studied characteristics (head length and breadth, the minimal forehead breadth and facial breadth, face height, facial and head indexes) in men, no reliable links were found between the variability of these traits and age. Variance analysis of normalized values of cephalometric signs revealed no differences in either the male or female Mongolian sample. The Mahalanobis distances calculated from the complex of head and face signs between the female and male Mongolian subsamples are noticeably smaller than the corresponding values obtained for the Chuvash group.

Conclusion. Comparative studies of the age dynamics of a number of measuring features of the head for about one and a half generations of the twentieth century in Khalkha-Mongols (adapted groups) and Chuvash (populations with impaired adaptation due to changes in socio-economic environmental factors) showed weakly pronounced morphological changes in the features on the head and face in the studied population groups. There were no significant age differences in the complex of features of the face and head in the Khalkhas populations. Data on sexual dimorphism of facial and head features in Mongols and Chuvash have been introduced into scholarly discourse, and in the Mongolian population the values of indicators of sexual dimorphism of cephalometric signs are less than in Chuvash sample. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. In the range of topical problems of modern human morphology, the doctrine of bodily constitution occupies an important place, but there is a shortage of data on population variability of somatotypes in the literature. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to study age and sex variations in body composition components using the Heath-Carter method in the Chuvash rural population examined in several villages in the Mariinsky-Posad, Morgaushsky and Yadrinsky districts of Chuvashia and Chuvash villages in the Aurgazinsky and Bizhbulyaksky districts of Bashkiria. The tasks included the determination and analysis of somatotypes according to Heath-Carter of men and women in age subgroups of adult Chuvash and assessment of age-related variability of sexual dimorphism of somatotype scores.

Materials and methods. The study sample consists of 802 men aged 18–89 years (M = 46.9) and 738 women aged 18–90 years (M = 48.6) examined in 1994, 1999 and 2002. Age and sex differences were assessed using one-way analysis of variance. Mahalanobis distances were used to rate the sexual dimorphism of somatotype components.

Results and discussion. Sex differences in the assessment of somatotype variations in the Chuvash population turn out to be most significant for the characteristics of endomorphy, with higher values in women. The values of endomorphy in men after 30 years practically did not change, but in women it continued to increase until the 6th decade, and then decreased with age. There were practically no differences in the mesomorphy; very small differences were found in ectomorphy between men and women aged 18-30 years.

Mesomorphy increases from 18-30 years to 50 in both sexes; the ectomorphy shows opposite age trends. A leveling of sex differences in all body composition components was recorded in the older part of the combined sample (70 – 80 years old).

Conclusions. Local patterns of age-related variability in body composition components for ethnic Chuvash are shown. For the first time, using representative material, indicators of sexual dimorphism have been determined for the complex of components of endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy in the Chuvash, showing the maximum intersexual differences in the age range of 41-60 years. A predominance of endomesomorphic body types in both sexes was revealed, with a tendency towards balanced mesomorphy in men (the youngest male subgroup is characterized by an ectomesomorphic somatotype). © 2024. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license