Current trends in the physical development of infants living in the northwest region

Assessment of the physical development of children, which is an objective reflection of their state of health, is carried out regularly by pediatricians at preventive examinations, the frequency of which decreases with increasing age of the child. To date, the subject of discussion remains the question of which particular standards of physical development are preferable, drawn up taking into account the characteristics of a particular region or unified, developed by experts of the World Health Organization. The article presents the results of a study of the physical development of children of St. Petersburg aged 0 to 12 months. For the period 2016–2017 years. 2419 children were examined. Average values were calculated with standard deviations, centile indicators of length and body weight, all indicators are correlated with gender and age. The data obtained are compared with the standards of the World Health Organization. Higher rates of physical development of babies in St. Petersburg compared with the standard of the World Health Organization may be due to regional characteristics, as well as the transverse method of our study. Given that the World Health Organization’s indicators are “reference”, it is necessary to use them in assessing the physical development of children, regardless of region of residence, which will make the results comparable.