[Handicapped statistics--aspects of pediatric and adolescent medicine]

Disability statistics recorded so far within the framework of public health services concerning paediatric diseases and diseases of adolescents in the North German Federal Land of Sleswick-Holstein are deficient in many respects. Classification according to individual kinds of disability is lacking in clarity; statistics are not representative of the entire population; they are unsuitable for assessing the performance of public health services; it is by no means evident in what manner the data have been compiled and why; no differentiated information is given on the large group of persons threatened with disability. The article discusses various aspects of classifying disabled persons. It is not clear whether reasonable statistics on this subject will be compiled in future. Paediatricians and doctors in care of adolescents are mainly concerned with advisory and expertising activities in respect of the individual patient.