COMPARATIVE CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HEALTH STATUS IN CHILDREN RESIDING IN ENVIRONMENTALLY POLLUTED AREA EXPOSED TO CHEMICAL FACTORS
Authors: Hnateiko O.Z. , Chaykovska H.S. , Lukianenko N.S. , Kech N.R. 
Published: November 2023

Introduction. Prolonged residence of children in polluted environments significantly impairs their health, primarily due to the presence of chemical reagents (sulphur compounds). These chemical reagents induce nonspecific, polysystemic syndromes that affect the gastrointestinal, urinary, and immune systems, thus warranting the formation of risk groups to facilitate individual assessment, prevention, and treatment. This study aims at investigating the health status of children residing in an area affected by environmental contamination from sulphur chemicals. Material and Methods. The study employed general clinical analyses, ultrasound scanning, and medical and statistical analysis to examine 88 children. The sample included 56 children residing in an environment that is highly polluted with sulphur compounds and 32 children in a control group living in a conditionally clean environment. The participants were assessed by medical specialists including paediatricians, gastroenterologists, nephrologists, neurologists, ophthalmologists, immunologists, pulmonologists and dentists. Objective medical examinations were conducted using instrumental methods, including ultrasound diagnostics of internal organs and the thyroid gland, as well as echocardiography and densitometry. The statistical processing of the findings obtained was carried out by using the "Statistica 5.0" application program package and the standard statistical analysis (Excel 2010). The reliability in the examined groups of children was calculated according to the Student's criterion and was considered significant at p<0.01.
Results. Assessment of the clinical health status of 88 children was performed based on their primary medical records (form 112-o), complaints, medical history, diseases, age parameters, and laboratory indicators. The main group demonstrated statistically significant changes with a probability of p<0.01. Children aged 13 to 16 years were more prevalent in the first group (30.4% versus 15.6%) and experienced significantly higher complaint frequency (p<0.01) than the control group. This suggests non-specific manifestations of general intoxication and environmental maladaptation in children. Several detrimental factors were found to reduce the overall response of the children's bodies within the main group (р<0.01), which serve as a premorbid background. These factors include the frequency of ante- and postnatal conditions such as preeclampsia during the first and second half of pregnancy, early artificial feeding, frequent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and atopic history of dermatitis. A spectrum of sickness was discovered during the analysis of the clinical health state of the main group with a probability of p<0.01. This includes chronic ailments of the gastroduodenal region (64.2% as opposed to 37.5%), biliary tract dyskinesia (32.1% - 18, 8%), dysmetabolic nephropathy (46.4% compared to 25.0%) and vegetative-vascular dystonia (46.4% and 15.6%). These findings indicate a decline in the body's immunological reactivity. Conclusions. The study reveals a significant decrease in the health status of children residing in an ecologically polluted environment with chemical sulfur compounds, compared to those dwelling in a clean environment (p<0.01). Chronic conditions affecting the gastroduodenal region, dysmetabolic nephropathy, vegetative-vascular dystonia, recurrent colds, chronic tonsillitis, and dental caries were detected in the main study group. These conditions significantly (p<0.01) imply the development of ecopathological syndromes, the creation of at-risk groups, and the need for preventive methods. Technical abbreviations will be explained when first used. Identified alterations in the clinical status of the assessed children with xenobiotic intoxication syndromes necessitate the establishment of at-risk groups, the pre-emptive avoidance and management of detected ecopathology.