[Epidemiological aspects of study of musculoskeletal diseases in children (in case of the Perm Region)].

There is a steady tendency for musculoskeletal abnormalities to increase in children and adolescents in the Perm Territory. In 75% of the towns of the Perm Territory and in half of the rural areas, the prevalence of musculoskeletal abnormalities, revealed during the 2002-2005 All-Russian clinical examination of children, was 1.03-3.9 times as high as the official morbidity rates. Among locomotor diseases, there was a preponderance of lower extremity deformities, kyphosis, lordosis, and scoliosis. Osteodensitometric studies demonstrated that osteopenia is more common in urban dwellers than in villages. The osteopenic syndrome develops in the girls earlier than in boys and it is mostly associated with the onset of puberty.