Background
Encouraged by the success of the BPSU, a German adaptation of the surveillance scheme called the ESPED was initiated in July 1992 to cover the country which has one of the largest child populations of any of the units (around 12-million). The surveillance system differs from the original British methodology in that cards are sent to paediatric department heads to complete. The response rates for the 460 groups of clinicians have risen significantly from 75% in 1992 to 95% in 2011, with the follow-up rate of completion of questionnaires in the range of 59% to 100%.
Contact Details
Professor Ruediger von Kries
ruediger.kries@med.uni-muenchen.de
Institute for Social Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Germany
Tel. +49 (0)89 552734 140