Participation in Preventive Medical Examinations for Children in Saxony-Anhalt (Germany) at the Time of School Entry Medical Examination

Abstract

The aim of this study is to present data concerning children's participation in the German preventive medical examinations for children ("U2" to "U8") in accordance with sections 26 and 92 of the German Social Code (Book V) as retrospectively recorded by the Public Health Service ("Öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst") of the German Province of Saxony-Anhalt during school entry medical examinations. Also we wanted to analyse the additional variables recorded per child in the areas of social factors, diagnostic findings and levels of therapeutic care in connection with their degree of participation in the preventive medical examinations. The statistical analysis of 73 628 anonymised data sets from the health monitoring system of the German Province of Saxony-Anhalt that were collected by the 14 health authorities in Saxony-Anhalt during school entry medical examinations between 2008 and 2012. An analysis of the data for 20 variables per child was performed with regard to the influence of their degree of participation in the U2 to U8 medical examinations using differences in frequency in the examination groups and checking the significance of these differences by means of the chi-squared test. 99-96% of children in Saxony-Anhalt underwent the 5 preventive medical examinations U2-U6. As the children get older, the participation rates decrease (U2=98.7% down to U8=88.5%). By the time the school entry medical examinations are carried out (at an average age of 63 months), 83% of the children have -undergone all 7 preventive medical examinations for children, while 0.4% have not -undergone one single "U" examination. A child's gender has no influence on its parents' decision as to whether or not it should undergo the examinations. The results also reveal that children who attend day care -facilities are significantly more likely to have undergone all of the U examinations (84.8%) than children who are cared for at home (55.1%). The retrospective comprehensive collection of data concerning the children's degree of participation in preventive medical examinations using the school entry medical examination is suitable for identifying connections between participation rates and the social factors, diagnostic findings and levels of therapeutic care of the children in question.