Development of a method and assessment of reserve capacities of the body in children and adolescents

Introduction. The assessment of the body’s reserve capacities is updated to improve the effectiveness of preventive and personalized medicine, ensuring healthy longevity of the population.

The purpose of the research is to develop a method and assess the reserve capacities of the body in children and adolescents.

Materials and methods. The study involved students in grades 1–11 (n = 5034). We analyzed body weight, vital capacity, right and left hand strength, Stange and Genchi tests in three age groups of 7–10, 11–14, 15–17 years. We calculated vital and strength indices; distributed them according to centile intervals according to regional standards. We created a mathematical model for calculating the index — body reserve index (BRI) to determine the reserve capacities of the body (RCB).

Results. The RCB were differentiated by indices: > 0,81 — excellent; ≤0,81 — > 0,6 — good; > 0,43 — ≤0,6 — satisfactory; < 0,43 — unsatisfactory. In the groups of 15–17 years students, compared with schoolchildren aged 7–10 years, the proportion of persons with unsatisfactory and satisfactory RCB increased due to a decrease in the proportion with good and excellent — by 6,26%; most significantly due to excellent. With insignificant proportional differences in the estimated values of the criteria “unsatisfactory” and “satisfactory” RCB, as well as “good” and “excellent” in males, they decreased in the second by 4,2%, and in the third — by 5,6% relative to the first group; in females in the older group they were higher than in the first by 11,4%, in the middle group — by 14,7%, which justifies the study of this phenomenon.

Research limitations. Schoolchildren aged 7–17, I–II health groups, no acute diseases for 1 month prior to the examination.

Conclusion. The range of methods for assessing the reserve capacity of the human body has been expanded for safe research in population screening studies.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was conducted in compliance with the ethical standards of the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki. The Ethics Committee of the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod approved the study, Protocol No. 4, dated October 2, 2014.

Contribution of the authors:
Kalyuzhny E.A. — concept and design of the study, writing the text, responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article;
Rakhmanov R.S. — editing, approval of the final version of the article;
Bogomolova E.S. — collection of literature data, editing, responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article;
Mukhina I.V. — collection, systematization and statistical processing of material;
Razgulin S.A. — participation in statistical processing of material, interpretation of results, preparation of text.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: May 22, 2025 / Revised: January 28, 2026 / Accepted: February 19, 2026 / Published: April 30, 2026

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