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.