ИСТИНА

Results of studies of a secular trend of morphophysiological characteristics in rural Chuvash population are presented. The material was collected in 1994, 1999 and 2002. The age of examined people varied from 18 to 84 years old, at that the total number of subjects was 1500. In men and women born in the 1930s, increase of total sizes can be observed. From the mid-1960s, stabilization of longitudinal dimensions, and even their moderate decrease, is revealed in women. The width of shoulders was increasing in men born from 1915 to the mid of 1960s, in women ‒ to the 1950s. In men born later, stabilization of the characteristic is seen; in women, a tendency to decrease of sizes is found. Thus, asthenization of the stature has been increasing in Chuvash group since 1950s. Gender differences are detected in the dynamics of this process. Observed time-related variability of morphological characteristics, as well as data on acceleration of ontogenesis in Chuvash population, reflect presence of adaptive tension in the examined groups.