• Martin Röhling, Michael Roslon, Kirstin Arndt, Ira Heß, Angelina Kremer, Katharina Leibold, Rosa Seddiki, Stefan Sommer, Rüdiger Landgraf, Kerstin Kempf, and Stephan Martin.
• Westdeutsches Diabetes- und Gesundheitszentrum, Verbund Katholischer Kliniken Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Deutschland.
• Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. 2023 Jan 1; 148 (1-02): e1e7e1-e7.

BackgroundThe incidence of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases is increasing worldwide and also in Germany. The aim of the study was to assess the health literacy regarding these diseases in childhood and adolescence.MethodsStudents of the 5th-12th grade (grammar school ("Gymnasium"), secondary school forms ("Realschule" and "Hauptschule")) were interviewed in 2007 (n = 4383) and 2019 (n = 572) about diabetes and secondary complications. In addition, questions about other cardiovascular risk factors were asked in 2019.ResultsDiabetes-related questions were answered correctly by 56 % in 2007 as well as 53 % in 2019. Among others, 70 % (2007) as well as 75 % (2019) of the students stated "ate too much sugar" as a cause for type 1 diabetes. Further, questions about major risk factors for heart attack and stroke were answered correctly by only 33 % (for diabetes) and 43 %-53 % (for smoking) of students.Across all questions, a positive association indicated between the rate of correct answers and the educational level of the school institution; however, the differences remained marginal at 5-19 % between Gymnasium and Hauptschule or Realschule at both survey time points. A difference between genders was indicated in 2007 (girls: 59 % vs. boys: 52 %) and 2019 (girls: 56 % vs. boys: 51 %).ConclusionChanges in health literacy regarding diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors among 5th-12th grade students over the past 12 years could not be observed. The assumed self-infliction of type 1 diabetes may be perceived as discrimination by those affected.The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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