[Mission Statement of a Modern German Public Health Child and Youth Service (PHCYS): Statement of the PHCYS Expert Committee of the Federal Association of the Public Health Service (PHS)]. / Leitbild für einen modernen Kinder- und Jugendgesundheitsdienst (KJGD) in Deutschland: Stellungnahme des Fachausschusses KJGD im BVÖGD.

BACKGROUND: Based on the mission statement of the Public Health Service (91st Health Minister Conference 2018), a mission statement for a modern Public Health Child and Youth Service (PHCYS) was derived in a "Future Workshop" at the BVÖGD Congress 2019. The central question addressed was: Which previous and new core tasks have to be put in practice by the PHCYS in terms of its role, both as a child and youth advocate and as a caretaker of their health, especially in light of major socially-shaped health differences. METHOD: Based on a pre-structured workflow comprising 5 topics with core questions, the future tasks of the PHCYS were discussed and summarized. Additionally, the participants elaborated which new requirements have to be addressed by the PHCYS and how they could be realized. RESULTS: Significant core tasks: a) Counselling of community structures on child and youth health needs, and how to respond based on first graders' health data (including social spherical assessment). b) Moderation of networking and introduction of health aspects as a cross-sectional task of the community sectors. c) Support of vulnerable groups with specific health and psychosocial needs. PHCYS's specific preventive fields are, for example, speech and development promotion and health protection. d) Medical assessment and counselling "free of commercial self-interest". e) Networking with science and research. Qualifications needed in the PHCYS: Medical specialists, a health planner (to support data analysis), social workers ( for counselling, but also for targeted projects), health professionals like family nurses/midwives, and also child and youth psychiatrists/psychologists (to meet the requirements of increased psychosomatic and psychological diseases). CONCLUSION: The previous and new core tasks are big challenges for the PHCYS, in terms of work and personnel that cannot be overcome just with a mission statement but need a broadly diversified reinforcement of PHCYS's work. This also includes anchoring of tasks in different laws at the federal and regional levels.

Prevalence of obesity, binge eating, and night eating in a cross-sectional field survey of 6-year-old children and their parents in a German urban population.

BACKGROUND: To assess the prevalence of obesity, obesity-related binge eating, non-obesity-related binge eating, and night eating in five- to six-year-old children and to examine the impact of parental eating disturbances. METHODS: When 2020 children attended their obligatory health exam prior to school entry in the city of Aachen, Germany, 1979 parents (97.9%) filled out a questionnaire on their child's eating habits and weight development in a cross-sectional survey. Anthropometric measurements were collected for all children in a standardized form. RESULTS: Episodes of binge eating were found in 2.0% of the children surveyed and night eating in 1.1%. There was a significant relationship between binge eating and obesity but not between night eating and the child's weight. Children's binge eating and night eating were strongly associated with eating disturbances on the part of their mothers (adjusted odds ratios [95% confidence intervals]: 6.1 [2.7-13.5] and 7.8 [2.1-29.4], respectively) and with a non-German native language (adjusted odds ratios [95% confidence intervals]: 2.6 [1.2-5.5] and 11.6 [3.5-38.7], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In concurrence with studies on adulthood, binge eating is linked to obesity already in early childhood. Children of mothers with eating disorders and children of mothers with a non-German native language are at increased risk of developing eating disorders themselves. Future studies should focus on obesity and eating disorders in early childhood; prevention programs should seek to target young children at risk as early as possible.

Secular trends in body mass index measurements in preschool children from the City of Aachen, Germany.

UNLABELLED: On account of the recent increases in prevalence of childhood obesity in Western countries, the present study tried to verify a secular trend for increasing body mass index (BMI; kg/m(2)) in preschool children in Aachen, Germany. The total sample was based on weight and height data for all 99,500 children of German nationality before enrollment in school in the City of Aachen from 1968-1999. For each year, 10% of the boys and girls respectively, were randomly selected for the analyses. Quantile regression was used to examine the pattern and extent of change in BMI percentiles over this 31-year period. Anthropometric data of a total of 5081 boys and 4863 girls were subjected to quantile regression. While significant increases occurred for any given BMI percentile, the annual increase for both sexes was most prominent in the upper range. No change in body height was observed during the study period. CONCLUSION: preschool children have gained a higher body mass index during the last 30 years. The mechanisms underlying the secular trend towards increasing body mass index seemingly affect children in the upper weight range more than those in the lower range.