Part I of the project aimed at describing risk factors and diseases in pre-defined target groups along a time axis and at serving as a foundation for a re-orientation of a needs-based screening programme. We defined target groups along a time axis from conception until schooling and dissected it into pregnancy (mother and unborn), birth and the postpartum period (mother and newborn) as well as infant and toddler/ early childhood. In addition, we identified concomitant factors, including lifestyle and psychosocial risk factors and diseases, which are neither related to a single individual nor to a particular time frame, but affect the whole family continuously. We analysed the epidemiological data in reference to differences in the frequency of various risk factors and diseases in different subgroups. The risk factors, disease and impact of the disease or its severity in the target group were also described in relation to sociodemographic characteristics such as age, education level, socioeconomic status or ethnic background. The results suggest that a parent-child care preventive programme which is primarlily “medically oriented” falls short of being adequate because it fails to address the social concomitant risk factors.