Approximately 13 million children and adolescents live in Germany. This represents 16% of the population. Just under 680,000 children are born each year.
Childhood and adolescence are characterised by a series of developmental phases with their own specific conditions for wellbeing, physical and mental health, and risks of illness. The health of children and adolescents is influenced by family and social structures as well as medical care services, and also increasingly by their own behaviour as they grow older.
Health and health-related behaviour during childhood and adolescence has a significant effect on health in later years.
The focus of the KiGGS study is the health of children and adolescents in Germany. This long-term study monitors the health situation of children and adolescents living in Germany and follows them into adulthood. In the planning and execution of the KiGGS study, the RKI works together with many research institutes in Germany and other countries. Along with DEGS and GEDA, KiGGS is one of three studies of the RKI health monitoring programme.
The KiGGS results have been included in many scientific publications, in health monitoring of the federal government and in public health plans. Examples are the 13th Children and Youth Report, an expert report for the Federal Ministry of Health on "Inequalities in Health in Children and Adolescents", as well as contributory work for the Council of Experts for the Health System on the topic “Health of Children and Adolescents in Specific Life Phases in Germany”.
Furthermore, the KiGGS results were considered in the federal government’s Poverty and Wealth report, in the strategy for the promotion of health in children, in formulation of national health targets, and in planning of services for prevention and health promotion in the German federal states. The KiGGS results were also picked up with great interest in other German-speaking countries (for example in the Austrian government’s “Child Health Dialogue” programme).
The brochure “Detect – Assess – Act: On the Health of Children and Adolescents in Germany” systematically works through the KiGGS basic survey results and the recommendations for action which can be derived from these results.
Publications
Comprehensive assessment of food and nutrient intake of children and adolescents in Germany: EsKiMo II – the eating study as a KiGGS moduleLage Barbosa C, Brettschneider AK, Haftenberger M, Lehmann F, Frank M, Heide K, Patelakis E, Perlitz H, Krause L, Houben R, Butschalowsky HG, Richter A, Kamtsiuris P, Mensink GBM (2017) BMC Nutrition 3:75 DOI: 10.1186/s40795-017-0196-5
Effectiveness of routine and booster pertussis vaccination in children and adolescents, federal State of Brandenburg, Germany, 2002–2012Haller S, Dehnert M, Karagiannis I, Rieck T, Siffczyk C, Wichmann O, Poethko-Mueller C, Hellenbrand W (2015) Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. 34(5):513–519. Epub Jan 23. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000000654.