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Every fourth child is already suffering from an allergy
Allergies can occur in many different forms and they are extremely widespread. From the current AOK children's report shows that in some regions, almost every fourth school child suffers from an allergy. Atopic dermatitis and hay fever are the most common allergies.
The increase in the number of allergic diseases in the population has been reported several times in the past decades, and now the AOK children's report confirms the growing extent of the problem. According to the AOK Northeast almost every fourth school child is allergic in their area. However, a decline in allergic diseases was also found in some regions.
This picture is not free. Child Report examines the extent of allergies
In 2015, northeastern Germany "almost every fourth child between the ages of 6 and 16 was affected by allergies," according to the AOK, citing the first results of the children's report for the Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region by the Health Sciences Institute Northeast (GeWINO). According to this, 24 percent of the children in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 23 percent of the children in Brandenburg and 22 percent of the children in Berlin have an allergy.
Rising morbidity rates outside metropolitan areas
Surprisingly, the spread of allergies has increased, especially outside the metropolitan areas, reports the AOK. Since 2006, the proportion of schoolchildren with allergies in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern increased by 3.2 percent and in Brandenburg by 0.8 percent, while in Berlin, the proportion even fell by 1.4 percent. "Within the past ten years, we had to notice an increase in the frequency of allergies, especially outside the metropolitan areas," stresses GeWINO Managing Director Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas P. Zahn in the press release of the AOK. Particularly high was the proportion of allergy sufferers in the Brandenburg Elbe-Elster district with 27.5 percent, while the proportion of allergic schoolchildren in Berlin-Reinickendorf, for example, was only 17.6 percent.
Atopic dermatitis and hay fever are the most common forms
The most common form of allergic diseases is atopic dermatitis, followed by allergic rhinitis, the so-called hay fever, reports the AOK. Thus, 11.3 percent of schoolchildren in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 11.1 percent of schoolchildren in Brandenburg and 9.2 percent of children in Berlin were affected by atopic dermatitis. According to the AOK, 9.2 percent of schoolchildren in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern suffer from hay fever, 8.8 percent in Brandenburg and 8.0 percent in Berlin. For those affected, the "allergy is a serious illness (dar), which can significantly limit the quality of life," said Frank Michalak, CEO of AOK Northeast.
Trivialization of the complaints
To date, for example, the allergic rhinitis, which is the vernacular rather trivial than "hay fever" designate, still underestimated in their dangerousness, warns Prof. Dr. med. med. Susanne Lauvon of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, who was involved in the preparation of the study. If the hay fever is not treated soon enough, a full-blown asthma can quickly develop, the doctor continues. By early hyposensitization in hayfever patients, however, the asthma formation can be reduced by 40 percent.
Lack of awareness of allergic diseases
In addition, the experts complain that in Germany there is still a lack of sufficient awareness and the necessary consideration for allergy sufferers. This is different, for example, in Sweden, where special regulations have already been passed requiring air filters and prohibiting fragrances in schools and hospitals. According to the AOK, the following points should also be taken into account in reducing the risk of disease: Reduction of tobacco smoke exposure, avoidance of unnecessary Caesarean births, promotion of the skin barrier in babies by regular creaming. "In addition, infants should be breastfed as much as possible until at least 4 to 6 months of age and parents make no unnecessary dietary restrictions in infancy," the AOK continues.
According to the AOK, the outpatient diagnoses of more than 125,000 schoolchildren between the ages of 6 and 16 living in Berlin, Brandenburg or Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2006 and 2015 were evaluated for the first children's report by the GeWINO. (Fp)