Frequency of X-ray examinations in former East- and West Germany: methods and results

Abstract

Human exposure to man-made radiation sources is largely due to diagnostic X-ray examinations, and the overall effect depends on the frequency and close of every single procedure. This paper deals with the evaluation of the frequencies of different types of examinations. As the method of investigation in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) the consumption of X-ray films combined with the statistical registration of all examinations in 3 of 15 districts of the GDR was used for the basic estimation. In former West Germany (FRG) we used data from the cost-covering institutions and from the diagnosis and therapy index of a commercial data bank. As a result in the GDR we discovered, for 17 million people. 13 million examinations, plus .5 million photofluorographs of the lung and 2.5 million dental films. In the FRG the frequency was, for 65 million people, almost 99 million examinations, including 17.5 million dental films. The most frequent X-ray examinations in both parts of the country involve the skeletal system, followed by examinations of the lung. In Germany the examination frequency is high despite the rather broad use of alternative diagnostic methods. A more strictly controlled indication could reduce the number of examinations without loss in quality.