[Chronic disease and health condition prevention in childhood: emphases from the 13th Symposium of Preventive Pediatrics].

Chronic diseases in childhood have become an important priority, especially in developed countries, because of higher prevalence, relatively and absolutely. Besides that, inappropriate procedures a chronically ill child can result in child's growth and development disorder. According to literature data, 15-20% of children have chronic disease with the impact on their physical, mental and emotional status. Disease prevention strategies are described at the primary, secondary and tertiary level: how to avoid occurrence of disease, how to diagnose and treat existent disease in early stages, before it causes significant morbidity, and finally how to reduce negative impact of existent disease by restoring function and reducing disease-related complications - how to improve quality of life of children with chronic diseases. The new term of quaternary prevention describes methods to mitigate or avoid results of unnecessary or excessive interventions in the health system. In this paper the authors present recent attitudes about chronic diseases prevention modalities in childhood, which, at the beggining of the 21st century, have become more intriguing and represent a new challenge for pediatric health care. Thus, from preventive standpoint, the following chronic illnesses are discussed: asthma, malignant diseases, autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, tuberculosis, diabetes type 1, congenital heart diseases, arterial hypertension, celiac disease, and eating disorders. These emphases are from the 13th Preventive Pediatrics Symposium, which took place in Skrad, June 2nd, 2012. Further activities are planned with the aim of continuation of health care furtherance for children with other chronic illnesses.