Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz
May 2023
The Beobachtungspraxennetzwerk Halle (BeoNet-Halle) is an innovative database of outpatient care that has been collecting patient data from participating primary care and specialty practices throughout Germany since 2020 and making it available for research and care. The database is set up and maintained by the Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biometrics and Informatics and the Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Furthermore, the Data Integration Center of the University Medical Center Halle is involved in the project.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCaregivers often face critical decisions, burdens, and perceived benefits related to a loved one participating in cancer clinical trial (CCTs). The purpose of this analysis was to better understand caregivers' perceptions on the benefits and burdens of participation in cancer clinical trials. Using a qualitative descriptive design, interviews with 20 caregivers of patient-participants from a larger parent study were conducted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a highly relevant entity in critical care with mortality rates of 40%. Despite extensive scientific efforts, outcome-relevant therapeutic measures are still insufficiently practised at the bedside. Thus, there is a clear need to adhere to early diagnosis and sufficient therapy in ARDS, assuring lower mortality and multiple organ failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Cancer clinical trials (CCTs) provide patients an opportunity to receive experimental drugs, tests, and/or procedures that can lead to remission. For some, a CCT may seem like their only option. Little is known about experiences of patient-participants who withdraw or are withdrawn from CCTs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Single measurements of higher levels of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I (sTNF-R1) have been shown to be associated with increased risk of mortality. However, up to date, little is known about the underlying temporal dynamics of sTNF-R1 concentrations and their relation with mortality. We aimed to characterize the effect of changes in sTNFR-1 levels on all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, independent from other established risk factors for mortality, including other inflammatory markers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Asylum seekers are a vulnerable group with special needs in health care due to their migration history and pre-, peri- and postmigratory social determinants of health. However, in Germany access to health care is restricted for asylum seekers by law and administrative regulations.
Methods: Using claims data generated in the billing process of health care services provided to asylum seekers, we explore their utilization of health care services in the outpatient sector.
Introduction: The research on heterogeneity among obese individuals has identified the metabolically healthy, but obese (MHO) phenotype as a distinct group that does not experience the typical cardiovascular-related diseases (CVD). It is unclear if this group differs with regard to preconditions for CVDs. Our aim was to assess differences in echocardiographic parameters and inflammatory biomarkers between MHO and metabolically healthy, normal weight individuals (MHNW).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: are the most commonly identified pathogens in bloodstream infections. Identification of in blood culture (SAB) requires a prompt and adequate clinical management. The detection of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), however, corresponds to contamination in about 75% of the cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz
March 2020
High levels of adiposity in the population have a major impact on various diseases, but previous epidemiologic studies have largely been restricted to simple anthropometric measures such as the body mass index (BMI), an imperfect predictor of disease risk. There is a critical need for the use of improved measures of relative weight and body composition in large-scale, population-based research.The current article presents initial descriptive results of body composition and fat distribution based on the midterm baseline dataset of the German National Cohort, which included 101,817 participants who were examined in 18 study centers in Germany between March 2014 and March 2017.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
December 2019
: Migration background is known to be an important risk factor for a number of medical outcomes. Still, relatively little is known about the epidemiologic relevance of different definitions of migration status. : Data from 5250 school entry examinations spanning three consecutive years (2015-2017) were gathered from the Public Health Department in Halle, Germany.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the plasma are associated with a number of age-related diseases that possibly lead to reduced longevity. However, previous studies showed large inconsistencies in the association between AGEs or their soluble receptor (sRAGE) and mortality. We studied this association in a cohort study of general population and assessed the potential changes in this association over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In Germany, all preschoolers undergo a school entry examination (SEE). While most children are sufficiently served with standardized developmental tests only, for a small group of otherwise underserved children, the SEE should also include a subsidiary health checkup. The aim of the study was to validate selection criteria to differentiate these two groups of children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), modifications of proteins or amino acids, are increasingly produced and accumulated with age-related diseases. Recent studies suggested that the ratio of AGEs and their soluble receptor (sRAGE) is a more accurate biomarker for age-related diseases than each separately. We aim to investigate whether this also applies for physical functioning in a broad age-spectrum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose And Methods: A meta-analysis using data from seven German population-based cohorts was performed by the German Epidemiological consortium of Peripheral Arterial Disease (GEPArD) to investigate whether one question about claudication is more efficient for PAD screening than established questionnaires. Claudication was defined on the basis of the answer to one question asking for pain in the leg during normal walking. This simple question was compared with established questionnaires, including the Edinburgh questionnaire.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Skin biomechanics are physical properties that protect the body from injury. Little is known about differences in skin biomechanics in racial/ethnic groups and the role of skin color in these differences. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between skin biomechanics (viscoelasticity, hydration) and skin color, when controlling for demographic and health-related variables in a sample of Puerto Rican and non-Puerto Rican women.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: A series of studies suggest that non-Hispanic White women have significantly more injuries than non-Hispanic Black women after sexual assault and consensual sexual intercourse. One explanation for this difference is that the degree of skin protection may vary as skin mechanics and skin pigmentation vary. The aim of the study was to determine the association among genital-anal injury, skin color, skin viscoelasticity and skin hydration in women following consensual sexual intercourse when controlling for age, smoking history, body mass index (BMI), sun exposure, and health status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApproximately 20-30% of patients remain dissatisfied with their treatment outcome after primary knee arthroplasty. Particularly frequent pain with limited flexibility contrives to reduce the quality of life of affected patients. Psychotherapeutic methods for pain processing after knee arthroplasty have hardly been investigated to date.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAgeing, one of the largest risk factors for many complex diseases, is highly interconnected to metabolic processes. Investigating the changes in metabolite concentration during ageing among healthy individuals offers us unique insights to healthy ageing. We aim to identify ageing-associated metabolites that are independent from chronological age to deepen our understanding of the long-term changes in metabolites upon ageing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We estimated the association of changes in body weight, waist circumference (WC), fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) with changes in blood pressure and incident hypertension using data from four German population-based studies.
Methods: We analyzed data from 4467 participants, aged 21 to 82 years not taking antihypertensive medication and not having type 2 diabetes mellitus or a history of myocardial infarction at baseline and follow-up, from four population-based studies conducted in Germany. Body weight, WC, and blood pressure were measured at baseline and follow-up (median follow-up of the single studies 4 to 7 years).
Disruption of metabolic homeostasis is an important factor in many diseases. Various metabolites have been linked to higher risk of morbidity and all-cause mortality using metabolomics in large population-based cohorts. In these studies, baseline metabolite levels were compared across subjects to identify associations with health outcomes, implying the existence of 'healthy' concentration ranges that are equally applicable to all individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz
April 2018
Background: Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are a major cause of mortality and loss of quality of life in Germany. Research into risk factors of these diseases requires large population-based cohort studies. Complete and accurate assessment of the incidence of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases is a key element for valid interpretation of the results from such studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Understanding the genetic architecture of cardiac structure and function may help to prevent and treat heart disease. This investigation sought to identify common genetic variations associated with inter-individual variability in cardiac structure and function.
Methods: A GWAS meta-analysis of echocardiographic traits was performed, including 46,533 individuals from 30 studies (EchoGen consortium).
Aims: To assess the value of cardiac structure/function in predicting heart rate variability (HRV) and the possibly predictive value of HRV on cardiac parameters.
Methods And Results: Baseline and 4-year follow-up data from the population-based CARLA cohort were used (790 men, 646 women, aged 45-83 years at baseline and 50-87 years at follow-up). Echocardiographic and HRV recordings were performed at baseline and at follow-up.