[Incidence of findings in pediatric sentinel practices: the Hamburg-Harburg pilot project].

In a one year pilot project in Hamburg, the feasibility of a sentinel practice system was tested by paediatricians and the health officials. The items to be documented were four symptoms of possible allergic pathogenesis. The mean of contacts per practice and week was 42 for rhinitis, 9 for wheeze, 8 for acute conjunctivitis and 4 for urticaria. Rhinitis, conjunctivitis and wheeze showed clear seasonal trends, but also shortterm peaks running against the seasonal trends were detectable. Seasonal covariations between symptoms and environmental parameters were strongest between wheeze, temperature and sulfur dioxide concentration of the air. But only a part of the wheeze-peaks followed peaks of temperature or sulfur dioxide. The implications of the feasibility study results for a long-term sentinel system in Hamburg are discussed.