Development of somatotyping in Russia according to scientometric analysis from 2013 to 2023

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Somatotyping has a long history and at the same time is widespread today in medicine, sports, and biomedical research, which necessitates the analysis of accumulated scientific facts. AIM: Identify the main trends and patterns of development of methodological approaches to determining somatotypes based on the analysis of domestic scientific publications from 2013 to 2023. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on scientific publications indexed in the RSCI, a database has been formed on the use of somatotype assessment methods for the period from 2013 to 2023. Keywords of publications, frequency and scientific areas of application of somatotyping schemes were analyzed. RESULTS: Anthropometry techniques were most often used to identify predictors of adaptation failure or disease development. When searching for characteristics of samples that differ in influencing factors, body composition was more often used. An increase in studies using somatotyping according to B.H. Heath and J.E. Carter (hereinafter — Heath–Carter) and M.V. Chernorutsky has been revealed. The share of studies performed using the methods of R.N. Dorokhov and V.G. Petrukhin and J.M. Tanner is decreasing, and the variety of somatotyping schemes used. In the study of adolescence, first adulthood and when somatotyping women, somatotyping according to R.N. Dorokhov and V.G. Petrukhin was more often used, in clinical studies — according to W.L. Rees и H.J. Eysenck, in the study of athletes — according to Heath–Carter, in combined somatotyping — according to P.N. Bashkirov, J.M. Tanner and W.L. Rees and H.J. Eysenck. CONCLUSIONS: The main problem, that anthropologists faced was the comparability of the results obtained using different somatotyping schemes.