[East-West School Beginners Study in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, North Rhine-Westphalia 1991-1997].
Since 1991, annual questionnaire-based surveys have been conducted in order to document the state of health of school beginners in industrial centres and in non-industrial areas in the German states of Sachsen-Anhalt, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. As early as 1994, the results of these studies had shown that the considerable reduction of air pollution by SO2 and dust had resulted in a noticeable decrease of upper respiratory irritations and infections in children residing in formerly heavily polluted East German regions. There was, however, no evidence of a connection between outdoor air pollution and symptoms of allergy and sensitisation. These symptoms were even more frequent in school beginners living in North Rhine-Westphalia than in East German children. With regard to the improvement of outdoor air quality, from 1997 on the study was focussed on a comparison of the prevalence of respiratory diseases, allergies and sensitizations in East and West German children with respect to other eventual risk factors including those originating from indoor conditions. From the beginning, every three years the school beginners were tested for eventual sensitizations using the skin prick test and RAST. Up to 1997, data were recovered from a total of 26121 children. The response rate amounted to 83%. A total of 5338 children were investigated by RAST and 4293 by skin prick testing. After three school years, a total of 1342 children, now nine years old, were questioned anew. The life prevalence of hay fever was 0.5-1.0% in East German children born before 1990 and 3.5-4.0% in those born after the political shift of 1990. Thus, the latter prevalence rate resembled that of West German children. Notably, the increase was true of hay fever symptoms (running or obstipated nose, reddened eyes) and not of bronchial asthma and atopic eczema. The 9-year-old children questioned in 1997, however, did not declare more often ever having suffered from hay fever than those of the same age questioned in 1994. Up to now, the incidence of sensitizations against specific allergens has not changed. Generally, the pattern of sickness and symptoms of 6-year old East German children has become quite similar to that of West German children.
Oppermann
H
H
Hygieneinstitut Sachsen-Anhalt, Magdeburg.
Krämer
U
U
D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005544:Forecasting; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D011634:Public Health / Q000639:trends*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012574:Schools / Q000639:trends; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*