I.Family partners attend key symposium on children’s health

On September 26^th, the symposium entitled “Determination of reference standards and distributions of risk factors for children’s health” took place at Herrenhausen Castle in Hanover, Germany, reports Frauke Guenther.

At the symposium, organized by the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS – and the German Volkswagen Foundation, the recently-published supplement of the International Journal of Obesity (IJO) on reference standards for children’s health care were presented to German pediatricians and health professionals. Reference standards for several clinical parameters were determined based on the IDEFICS data as, for example, for skinfold thickness, neck and hip circumferences, blood lipids, bone stiffness or blood pressure.

The opening speeches were delivered by Dr. Wilhelm Krull (Secretary General of the German Volkswagen Foundation), Cornelia Rundt (Minister for Social Affairs, Health and Gender Equality of Lower Saxony, Germany), and Dr. Wolfram Hartmann (President of the professional organization of pediatricians in Germany).

Three oral presentations gave an overview of the results published in the IJO supplement and their implications for the pediatric practice: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ahrens described the current situation regarding childhood obesity in Europe, Prof. Dr. Luis Moreno introduced several reference standards, in particular a new definition of the childhood metabolic syndrome, and Dr. Johann Böhmann highlighted the importance of basic epidemiological research for the pediatric practice.

A general discussion and a get-together completed the symposium which was attended by about 50 participants.

Photo: (l-r) Iris Pigeot, Wolfgang Ahrens, Luis Moreno and Johann Böhmann