Medico-ecological aspects of physical and sexual development of the adolescent girls

It has been established that ecologic factors could badly influence on the development of the reproductive system. Among anthropogenic ecologic factors, metal pollutants are of special interest.

In our survey, we have revealed that adolescent girls, living in the territories polluted by the salts of heavy metals, tend to have intersexual type of body build, which has manifested in enlarged shoulder width, enlarged length of the arms and decreased transverse pelvic distances. The development of the secondary sexual signs was accompanied by the retardation in development of mammas, arm-pits pilosis and onset of the first menstrual period. The fact that adolescent girls live in the areas with elevated soil concentration of the salts of heavy metals should be considered as unfavorable, with feasible influence on the physical and sexual development.