The Brandenburg Network Healthy Children: Early Prevention Shows Effectiveness

Abstract

The Brandenburg Network Healthy Children (NHC) is a regional health programme for families with toddlers (0-3) run by trained volunteers. Based on the analysis of School Entry Medical Examination (SEME), the study investigates the possible influence of NHC on children's health. A retrospective epidemiological analysis of the sociodemografic and health-related differences among subgroups nc and n-nc based on SEME, school year 2016/2017 (network children/nc: 1,152, not network children/n-nc: 20,954), using descriptive statistics; a logistic regression analysis assessing, for instance, the power of NHC's influence on health adjusting also for social status and region. Parents with low/middle social status and one-parent families participated more frequently in the NHC (p<0.001). Nc compared to n-nc brought check-up documents (94.3 / 91.5%, p<0.001) and vaccination certificates (95.7 / 91.7%, p<0.001) more frequently to SEME. A higher tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis booster rate was observed after network participation. The adjusted model showed nc were less likely to have incomplete (U2-U6) check-ups (OR 0.347 [95%-KI: 0.192-0.627, p<0.001]), vaccination gaps (OR 0.621 [95%-KI: 0.508-0.758, p<0.001]) and more likely to be "optimally cared for" (OR 1.355 [95%-KI: 1.175-1.562, p<0.001]). Children's health showed benefit from network participation.