Suffering health of children in Germany

DAK study among paediatricians: The health of children in Germany suffers

06/07/2011

The health of children in Germany seems to be bad. More and more children and adolescents suffer from obesity, mental illness and behavioral problems. Pediatricians are raising alarm in a DAK study calling for improved and more timely screening.

Germany is one of the richest countries in the world and yet, apparently, the health of children is deteriorating to an increasing extent. In any case, the pediatricians reported during a study of the German employees health insurance DAK. This questioned the doctors according to their assessments and experiences of recent years. The overall result quickly showed that child health has deteriorated significantly in the last ten years. According to the DAK, the worsening of health among elementary school students is particularly serious. According to the physicians, children between the ages of 6 and 8 are particularly affected, as this age range is the most obvious manifestation of an increasing deterioration in their state of health.

Children hardly move and often eat unhealthily
During the survey, about 100 pediatric health specialists were surveyed nationwide. The physicians filled in pre-prepared questionnaires and reported anonymously on their practical experience. Most physicians were able to observe a clear trend, which can be summarized quickly. The children are becoming increasingly unhealthy, barely active, and spend most of their free time watching television or computers. In addition, parents would less and less offer themselves as concrete role models because they are too busy with themselves or their professional lives. A clear majority of 61 percent of paediatricians stated that parents would be barely or not at all a role model.

The health insurance DAK was concerned about these numbers. „The assessment of paediatricians is alarming“ stressed DAK doctor Christina Sewekov. The health education of children must be in Germany „get more weight“, stressed Sewekow. The expert agreed with the opinion of the professional association of paediatricians. This recently called for a more intensive redrafting of child care programs. The number of preventive examinations should therefore not be extended. Rather, newly added aspects such as obesity and mental suffering must be included in order to become more proactive. „It is also important to involve parents and school more“, explains Dr. Christina Sewekov. Many parents need more support to educate their children more adequately.

Children are more likely to be overweight and mentally ill
Above all, the psychological problems and the growing overweight of the children are serious. More than 50 percent of the physicians said in the survey that the health status of the children had deteriorated rather (51 percent) or significantly (4 percent) since the year 2000. Over 97 percent of doctors also found, „that, above all, mental health problems and behavioral problems have increased“. In the field of mental illness, as many as 55 percent of pediatricians see it „a big increase“. Another field is nutrition education. Even at primary school age, the first health consequences of malnutrition occur. A good 95 percent of physicians see a significant increase in health damage in children due to obesity. According to a science study from the year 2010, about 14 percent of all children are overweight. About six percent already showed the onset of morbid obesity in their early childhood. Because children become too one-sidedly educated about their abilities due to the increase of media objects such as computers and the internet, more and more children also suffer from motor deficits. Increased emergence of speech and hearing impairments was noted by physicians, especially in the 3 to 5 year olds.

Improved preparedness programs required
In the course of the survey study, the Federal Association of Paediatricians in Germany calls for a reform of the preventive care programs. The difficulties and problems of children today are different than 40 years. Because the cornerstones of the programs have not changed since. Due to the addition of other problems are the so-called „U-studies no longer timely“. The chairman of the professional association, Dr. med. Wolfram Hartmann, therefore called for a turnaround in the early detection. So you have to get away from the „old concept of early detection and towards the concept of preventing the onset of disease, ie primary prevention“. On behalf of the DAK, the opinion and research institute Forsa carried out a nationwide survey of 100 paediatricians in April 2011. (Sb)

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Picture: Dr. Stephan Barth