COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE HEALTH STATUS OF STUDENTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

Young people are the locomotive of a prosperous future for any country, so the training of highly qualified personnel is the main priority of modern healthy society. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to take into account a huge number of factors that contribute to the development and self-realization of the young generation of citizens, but the foundation will always be the physical and  mental health of the person. For example, during the period of adaptation to new changing conditions, their sexual and physical development occurs, because it is during this period of life that young people graduate from  schools, enter  universities, etc. And in universities, they are expected  to study with high mental loads, a different lifestyle, independence, and a high level of responsibility.

According to official statistics, about 30% of University graduates are professionally unfit due to poor health, and 60% of them suffer from chronic diseases [1].

In connection with the above situation, we have conducted a study to assess the baseline health  and  the presence of risk factors for chronic diseases among students of various universities in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Based on data from the social survey, it was found  that 25.59% of students enrolled in 1-5 courses have chronic diseases. Among students, digestive and  respiratory diseases (15.9%) are the most common.

In the structure of morbidity, the first three places took diseases of the digestive organs, respiratory and musculoskeletal systems, allergies. Circulatory diseases were in the 4th place. This can be explained by a sedentary lifestyle, as mentioned  by 75% of all respondents.

The incidence rate per 1000 people for the following classes of diseases: digestive organs, nervous, respiratory systems, skin, and subcutaneous tissue, as well as allergies in girls, exceeds those in boys (1.8; 3.3; 1.3; 6.6; 2.7 times, respectively). However, diseases of the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems in boys are more common than in girls by 4 and 1.5 times, respectively. It should also be noted that young men suffer from  hypodynamia and obesity 5 times more than girls.

Besides, there is 1% of students who have several chronic diseases at  the same time.

Data from an anonymous survey of behavioral risk factors revealed the prevalence of alcohol, smoking, and sedentary lifestyles. 22.39% of boys and 1.79% of girls use tobacco products, 22.39% of boys and 14.97% of girls use alcoholic beverages. Physical activity of students is insufficient, only one-quarter of the survey participants are engaged in physical culture and sports.

Student life is filled with difficult situations, so students often experience stress and neuropsychiatric stress. This stress develops due to a large flow of information, due to the lack of systematic work in the semester and, as a result, stress during the session. Therefore, the questionnaire included questions to assess the presence of stressful situations and the impact of the educational process on their health. The results are shown as a histogram in Figure 1.

This histogram shows that the level of constant stress is present in 18.6% of students. Girls are exposed to stress 1.56 times more than boys. According to the results of the observation, a trend was revealed that in addition to studying, 17.28% of boys and 14.62% of girls are engaged in part-time work outside of school, which affects the state of  mental health, as the cause of stress in 15.63% of boys and 13.5% of girls are problems at work.

Figures 2 and 3 show the results of a study on the impact of the educational process on health.

Out of the total number of respondents, 20.9% are regularly exposed to stress, triggered by problems that arise in the learning process. The huge share of these problems is significant periodic loads during learning, in addition, 9% of students have problems with understanding the material, which is also a serious stressful factor.

Comparing the results of our research with similar works, we can identify the tendency of girls to be susceptible diseases of the digestive and nervous systems, while boys suffer more from diseases of the cardiovascular system [2]. It also identified factors such as adaptation  to the learning process, the state of the emotional and vegetative system, and chronic diseases that directly affect the level of health, but also indirectly, including the number of family members and financial situation. This study also does not exclude the influence of the student's origin (village, city), family size, and money spent monthly on health status.

In modern society, the social significance of higher education is increasing. However, universities need to reformat their educational processes to help students in self-education, self-determination, moral self-improvement, and  the development of social experience, while ensuring a high professional level of training for young people. Good health is essential as a resource of mental and physical strength for future work to preserve the health of the country's population. Human health is 50% dependent on lifestyle (diet, stress, living conditions, studies and  professional activities), so improving health depends on the desire and ability to develop reasonable behavior under the conditions of life. It is necessary to learn to strengthen your health from the moment of birth. This, in many ways, should be facilitated by parents and teachers, and to a lesser extent by doctors. However, there is a lot of social pressure on young people (parents, social circle, teachers). As a result, students become more vulnerable to the influence of the factors identified by us, which significantly affects their health. Therefore, it is necessary to put the formation, preservation and strengthening of the health of young people, by the students themselves, in the first place.

1. Ermakovich I.I., Chernyshov V.A.  Prevention of chronic noncommunicable diseases at the population level.  Health of Ukraine.  2004; 108 (in Russ.).
2. Zakharova R.N., Timofeeva A.V., Mikhailova A. E., Timofeev L. F. Assessment of the state of health of first-year students. Group of authors; 2014 (in Russ.).