Predictors of oropharyngeal cancer survival in Europe.

Objectives: HPV16-positive oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients experience better outcomes compared to HPV16-negative patients. Currently, strategies for treatment de-escalation are based on HPV status, smoking history and disease stage. However, the appropriate cut-point for smoking and the role of other non-clinical factors in OPC survival remains uncertain.

Survival of cancer patients in urban and rural areas of Germany--a comparison.

Background: Cancer care services including cancer prevention activities are predominantly localised in central cities, potentially causing a heterogeneous geographic access to cancer care. The question of an association between residence in either urban or rural areas and cancer survival has been analysed in other parts of the world with inconsistent results. This study aims at a comparison of age-standardised 5-year survival of cancer patients resident in German urban and rural regions using data from 11 population-based cancer registries covering a population of 33 million people.

Validity of 24-h recalls in (pre-)school aged children: comparison of proxy-reported energy intakes with measured energy expenditure.

Background & Aims: Little is known about the validity of repeated 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR) as a measure of total energy intake (EI) in young children. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of proxy-reported EI by comparison with total energy expenditure (TEE) measured by the doubly labeled water (DLW) technique.

Methods: The agreement between EI and TEE was investigated in 36 (47.

Antidepressant drug use and off-label prescribing in children and adolescents in Germany: results from a large population-based cohort study.

The off-label use of drugs in children and adolescents is widespread. In Germany, the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other antidepressants (OADs) is not licensed for the treatment of depressive disorders in children and adolescents except for fluoxetine, which was approved in 2006. Against this background, antidepressant drug (ATD) use with a particular focus on off-label prescribing was characterised in a retrospective cohort study including cross-sectional analyses based on claims data of 2,599,685 patients up to 17 years of age.

Relative validity of the Children's Eating Habits Questionnaire-food frequency section among young European children: the IDEFICS Study.

Objective: To compare, specifically by age group, proxy-reported food group estimates obtained from the food frequency section of the Children's Eating Habits questionnaire (CEHQ-FFQ) against the estimates of two non-consecutive 24 h dietary recalls (24-HDR).

Design: Estimates of food group intakes assessed via the forty-three-food-group CEHQ-FFQ were compared with those obtained by a computerized 24-HDR. Agreement on frequencies of intakes (equal to the number of portions per recall period) between the two instruments was examined using crude and de-attenuated Pearson's correlation coefficients, cross-classification analyses, weighted kappa statistics (κ w) and Bland-Altman analysis.

Changes in incidence of anogenital warts diagnoses after the introduction of human papillomavirus vaccination in Germany-an ecologic study.

In a large health insurance database in Germany, incidence of anogenital warts among 15- to 19-year-old females decreased from 316/100,000 person-years in 2007 to 242 in 2008 (23% reduction, P = 0.0001). The decrease started between the first and second quarter of 2007 (human papillomavirus vaccination was introduced in March 2007).

Drug treatment patterns of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents in Germany: results from a large population-based cohort study.

Objective: Despite a substantial increase in total methylphenidate (MPH) prescriptions in Germany over the last 20 years, and the introduction of modified release MPH (MR MPH) and atomoxetine (ATX), remarkably little is known about treatment patterns of attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in individual patients.

Methods: Usage patterns of ADHD drugs in children and adolescents in Germany were analyzed using data from one large German health insurance including >7,200,000 members. Of those, 6210 ADHD patients newly diagnosed in 2005 were followed for a maximum of 4 years.

Message formats and their influence on perceived risks of tobacco use: a pilot formative research project in India.

In India, tobacco kills 900,000 people every year though the burden of tobacco is faced disproportionately in poorer states such as Bihar. Teachers may be a particularly influential group in setting norms around tobacco use in the Indian context. However, tobacco use among teachers remains high and perceptions of tobacco-related health risks are unexplored.

Evaluation of an intervention using a self-regulatory counselling aid: pre- and post- intervention results of the OPTIMAHL 60plus study.

Objectives: The study covers development and evaluation of an innovative counselling aid in an intervention study. The main purpose of the study was to establish whether improvements in nutrition and physical activity behaviour according to standard recommendations can be demonstrated.

Methods: OPTIMAHL 60plus is a quasi-experimental study in which participants were assigned in clusters to an intervention or control group.

A feasibility trial to examine the social norms approach for the prevention and reduction of licit and illicit drug use in European University and college students.

Background: Incorrect perceptions of high rates of peer alcohol and tobacco use are predictive of increased personal use in student populations. Correcting misperceptions by providing feedback has been shown to be an effective intervention for reducing licit drug use. It is currently unknown if social norms interventions are effective in preventing and reducing illicit drug use in European students.

Diet-obesity associations in children: approaches to counteract attenuation caused by misreporting.

Objective: Measurement errors in dietary data lead to attenuated estimates of associations between dietary exposures and health outcomes. The present study aimed to compare and evaluate different approaches of handling implausible reports by exemplary analysis of the association between dietary intakes (total energy, soft drinks, fruits/vegetables) and overweight/obesity in children.

Design: Cross-sectional multicentre study.

Azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine for maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis.

Background: Maintenance of remission is a major issue in inflammatory bowel disease. In ulcerative colitis, the evidence for the effectiveness of azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine for the maintenance of remission is still controversial.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and safety of azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine for maintaining remission of ulcerative colitis.

Prevalence and determinants of misreporting among European children in proxy-reported 24 h dietary recalls.

Dietary assessment is strongly affected by misreporting (both under- and over-reporting), which results in measurement error. Knowledge about misreporting is essential to correctly interpret potentially biased associations between diet and health outcomes. In young children, dietary data mainly rely on proxy respondents but little is known about determinants of misreporting here.

Signals of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy for immunosuppressants: a disproportionality analysis of spontaneous reports within the US Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS).

Purpose: Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that has been reported as rare adverse drug reaction (ADR) of immunosuppressive drugs. We aimed to study signals of PML for immunosuppressants using a disproportionality analysis of spontaneous adverse event reports.

Methods: Within the US Adverse Event Reporting System, we analyzed all reports of ADRs submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration between January 1, 2004 and September 30, 2010.

HPV infection awareness and self-reported HPV vaccination coverage in female adolescent students in two German cities.

Low levels of human papillomavirus (HPV) awareness and knowledge have been observed in the few studies conducted among school-going adolescents. Such data are lacking in Germany. To assess awareness of HPV and of vaccination status among girls attending grades 8-13 in Bremen and Bremerhaven, two German cities.

High-dimensional versus conventional propensity scores in a comparative effectiveness study of coxibs and reduced upper gastrointestinal complications.

Purpose: High-dimensional propensity score (hd-PS) adjustment has been proposed as a tool to improve control for confounding in pharmacoepidemiological studies using longitudinal claims databases. We investigated whether hd-PS matching improved confounding by indication in a study of Cox-2 inhibitors (coxibs) and traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (tNSAIDs) and their association with the risk of upper gastrointestinal complications (UGIC).

Methods: In a cohort study of new users of coxibs and tNSAIDs we compared the effectiveness of these drugs to reduce UGIC using hd-PS matching and conventional propensity score (PS) matching in the German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database.

Artificial neural networks modeling gene-environment interaction.

Background: Gene-environment interactions play an important role in the etiological pathway of complex diseases. An appropriate statistical method for handling a wide variety of complex situations involving interactions between variables is still lacking, especially when continuous variables are involved. The aim of this paper is to explore the ability of neural networks to model different structures of gene-environment interactions.

3-year prevalence of alcohol-related disorders in German patients treated with high-potency opioids.

Purpose: In November 2010, the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use completed a review of the safety and effectiveness of modified-release oral high-potency opioids (HPO). The reason for this referral procedure was the concern that some of these controlled-release systems may be unstable when co-ingested with alcohol and that the active substance would be released too quickly. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of alcohol-related disorders (ARD) in German patients treated with HPO approved for pain therapy.

Differences in the Incidence of Gestational Diabetes between Women of Turkish and German Origin: An Analysis of Health Insurance Data From a Statutory Health Insurance in Berlin, Germany (AOK), 2005-2007.

Gestational diabetes increases the risk of maternal and infant complications and long-term health effects. A study of differences in the incidence of gestational diabetes between women of Turkish and German origin can identify high risk groups and may indicate the need for culturally sensitive diabetes information and treatment during pregnancy. We analysed all pregnancy related health insurance data from the AOK Berlin (a statutory health insurance in Berlin) based on data from 2005 to 2007, using a name algorithm to identify cases with Turkish migrant background.

From sleep duration to childhood obesity--what are the pathways?

Unlabelled: Sleep duration has been identified as risk factor for obesity already in children. Besides investigating the role of fat mass (FM), this study addressed the question whether endocrine mechanisms act as intermediates in the association between sleep duration and overweight/obesity. Within the framework of the IDEFICS study, the present research was conducted in 609 German resident children aged 2-9 years with information on fasting insulin, C-reactive protein and cortisol levels next to anthropometric measurements and parental questionnaires.

Signal detection and monitoring based on longitudinal healthcare data.

Post-marketing detection and surveillance of potential safety hazards are crucial tasks in pharmacovigilance. To uncover such safety risks, a wide set of techniques has been developed for spontaneous reporting data and, more recently, for longitudinal data. This paper gives a broad overview of the signal detection process and introduces some types of data sources typically used.

Occupational exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and the risk of uveal melanoma.

Objectives: We investigated the association between occupational exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) and the risk of uveal melanoma using international data of a case-control study from nine European countries.

Methods: After exclusion of proxy interviews, 280 cases and 3084 control subjects were included in the final analysis. Information on possible exposure to EDC was derived from 27 job-specific questionnaires (JSQ), which solicited detailed questions on occupational tasks.