56 Section GROWTH and DEVELOPMENT ANALYSIS OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MOSCOW SCHOOLCHILDREN AGED 8–18 YEARS (ON THE RESULTS OF LONGITUDINAL STUDIES) Milushkina Olga1,2 , Bokareva Nataliya1,2 , Skoblina Natalya1 1Scientifi c Centre of Children Health, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia 2Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia The study of physical development in longitudinal researches is carried out with the aim to determine the dynamics of changes of anthropometric indicators, the level of biological maturation and functional indicators of children and adolescents in different time intervals. <...> The processes of physical and sexual development are interconnected and refl ect the general patterns of growth and development but at the same time they signifi cantly depend on social, economic, sanitary, hygienic and other conditions, which infl uence is mostly defi ned by human age. <...> During three longitudinal studies of physical development of Moscow schoolchildren (1960-1969, 1982–1991 and 2003–2013) the indicators of body mass and length, chest circumference, ratios, stages of biological development and muscular strength of the right hand were evaluated. <...> The 10-year time scale of the observations allows determining the vector of changes of somatic development, puberty and functional capacities of children from decade to decade. <...> The third longitudinal study of physical development of Moscow children and adolescents shows that modern schoolchildren exceed their peers of the 1960’s and 1980’s in main anthropologic indicators (body mass and length, chest girth) and the level of biological development (menarcheal age and the degree of development of the secondary sexual characters at an earlier age). <...> The results of the studies show a change of body proportions in modern schoolchildren: the increase of body length is combined with the increase in leg length. <...> During longitudinal observations of 2003-2013 a signifi cant decrease of functional indicators (of hand strength) was found in children of all age groups. <...> The fi ndings dictate the necessity of new modern references for the assessment of physical development, reconsidering of normatives of biological development of schoolchildren and searching for the reasons of decrease in functional indicators. <...> Key words: longitudinal studies, physical development, level of biological development, dynamometry Contact information: Milushkina Olga, e-mail: milushkina_o@rsmu.ru. <...> DEVELOPMENT OF SUBCUTANEOUS AND VISCERAL ADIPOSE TISSUE <...>