An anthropometric approach to the problem of diagnostics of excess weight in children

The significant prevalence of obesity in children, as well as significant consequences for health, determine the relevance and practical importance of the problem of excess body weight. In this regard, the purpose of this publication is to analyze generalizing scientific reviews devoted to the problem of anthropometric approaches to the diagnosis of overweight and obesity in children. The results of studies of the last 3 years, presented in the PubMed database, in the scientific electronic library eLibrary.ru for the period from 2015 to 2024, as well as the thematic search of literature, are discussed. Certain differences in the estimates of total and fat body mass, asynchronous growth of body components, the relationship of the state of redundancy with social, national and territorial problems are shown. The issues of methodological unity of research, as well as the lack of a generally accepted base that allows determining the contribution of lifestyle factors to the problem under study, are discussed. The analysis of the literature shows that many issues of practical medicine related to the assessment of the risks of health disorders associated with the accumulation of overweight and obesity remain unresolved today. Largely, this is due to the lack of a unified methodological base that allows to determine the contribution of lifestyle factors to the problem, due to problems of age and sex characteristics of the female body. Anthropometric research methods can serve as a methodological basis for studying the problem of obesity. Despite the fact that at present most studies on the assessment of the fat component of body mass are based on the determination of body mass index, alternative methods of more accurate risk prediction are increasingly being used using a comprehensive study that includes anthropometric methods for determining body size, volume and biophysical determination of body composition. An important task of anthropologists is to adapt the methods used in the practice of pediatrics and to verify the parameters of the component composition of the child’s body. An urgent problem is the development of an algorithm for an effective combination of the most informative anthropometric indicators in solving issues related to the assessment of the impact of behavioral, gender and ethno-territorial factors on human health. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.