337 results match your criteria: "Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology[Affiliation]"

Background: Dementia rates are rising globally, impacting healthcare systems and society. The care of people with dementia is largely provided by informal caregivers (e.g.

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Importance: An accessible marker of both biological age and dementia risk is crucial to advancing dementia prevention and treatment strategies. Although frailty is a candidate for that role, the nature of the relationship between frailty and dementia is not well understood.

Objective: To clarify the temporal relationship between frailty and incident dementia by investigating frailty trajectories in the years preceding dementia onset.

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Evaluation of skin cancer screening in Germany - a Microsimulation.

J Dtsch Dermatol Ges

November 2024

Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Lübeck University, Lübeck, Germany.

Background: Comprehensive skin cancer screening was introduced in Germany in 2008. It is unclear whether subsequently observed changes in the epidemiology of malignant melanoma (MM), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) are due to the screening. Simulation models are used to compare different screening scenarios with each other and with observed incidence and mortality trends.

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Short-term Frailty Index Fluctuations in Older Adults: Noise or Signal?

J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci

December 2024

Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University & Nova Scotia Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Background: Reversible short-term fluctuations in the frailty index (FI) are often thought of as representing only noise or error. Here, we assess (i) the size and source of short-term FI fluctuations, (ii) variation across sociodemographic characteristics, (iii) association with chronic diseases, (iv) correlation with age, frailty level, frailty change, and mortality, and (v) whether fluctuations reflect discrete health transitions.

Methods: Nationwide, biweekly longitudinal data from 426 community-dwelling older adults (70+) were collected in the FRequent health Assessment In Later life (FRAIL70+) study using a measurement burst design (5 122 repeated observations, median of 13 repeated observations per person).

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Awareness, use and perception of patient versions of clinical practice guidelines - a national cross-sectional survey among patients with a cancer diagnosis and healthcare providers.

BMC Health Serv Res

October 2024

AWMF (Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany)-Institute for Medical Knowledge Management (IMWi), c/o Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany.

Background: To investigate awareness, use, and perceptions of the patient guidelines (PGs) of the German Guideline Program in Oncology (GGPO) and to explore general preferences regarding cancer information among patients and healthcare providers (HCPs).

Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys among patients with cancer (November 2020-May 2021) and among HCPs (April -June 2021) were set up as anonymised, self-administered, semi-structured online surveys, including open-ended questions. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analysis.

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Background: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccinations in previously SARS-CoV-2-infected adults in the general population of Austria during the Delta wave and with extended follow-up.

Methods: In a nationwide retrospective cohort study, we calculated age-, sex-, and nursing home residency-adjusted Cox proportional hazard ratios (HRs) of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths, SARS-CoV-2 infections, and non-COVID-19 deaths from 1 October to 31 December 2021, and secondarily with extended follow-up to 30 June 2022. Relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) is rVE = (1 - HR) × 100.

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Background: International studies identified comparable or better effects for telerehabilitation compared with face-to-face rehabilitation or no rehabilitation in people with back pain. In German rehabilitation centers, a standardized back school for patients with back pain is provided usually face-to-face as part of a multimodal rehabilitation program.

Aim: To examine the non-inferiority of a three-week, digitally assisted, multimodal rehabilitation that applies a digital version of a standardized back school (intervention group [IG]) against the same rehabilitation program applying the back school face-to-face (control group [CG]).

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Analyses of late-life disability based on survey data of the oldest old often suffer from non-representative samples due to selective participation and attrition. Here, we use register data on the Austrian long-term care allowance (ALTCA) as a proxy for late-life disability. In this retrospective mortality follow-back study, we analyze receipt of ALTCA, a universal cash benefit based on physician-assessed disability in activities of daily living during the last 10 years of life, among all decedents aged 65 years and over from 2020 in Austria (n = 76,781) and its association with sex, age at death, and underlying cause of death.

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Background: Due to the large number of radiotherapeutic options for treatment of posterior uveal melanoma (UM), advantages of each option regarding important clinical endpoints have yet to be determined. Therefore, objective of this systematic review was to analyze the numerous pro- and retrospective cohort studies focusing on the efficacy of different radiotherapeutic options for UM in adults, considering local tumor control, overall survival, visual acuity, eye preservation, metastasis, radiation side effects and dose rates.

Methods: The Review was performed based on the Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews.

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Objectives: This study examines the impact of temperature variations on out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrests in Germany over a decade (2010-2019). Out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrests affects 164 per 100,000 inhabitants annually in Germany, 11% survive to hospital discharge. The following study investigates days with the following characteristics: summer days, frost days, and high humidity days.

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Background: Little is known about education-related inequalities in late-life disability. Here, we use individual-level register data on the receipt of the Austrian long-term care allowance (ALTCA) to assess education-related inequalities in the duration of late-life disability.

Methods: In this retrospective mortality follow-back study, we analyse receipt of ALTCA, a universal cash benefit based on physician-assessed disability in activities of daily living, during the last 5 years of life among all decedents aged 65 years and over from 2020 in Austria (n=76 772).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to find out what information people who had a stroke need to prevent getting another one.
  • Researchers looked at many studies to see what these people wanted to know about treatment, causes, and life after a stroke.
  • They found that most wanted to get their information from healthcare professionals, especially about treatment and causes, and they believe more support is needed for them.
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Revisiting unstable disability and the fluctuations of frailty: a measurement burst approach.

Age Ageing

August 2024

Academic Unit for Ageing and Stroke Research, Bradford Institute for Health Research, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.

Background: It has been hypothesised that frailty is the root cause of clinically observed but rarely systematically measured unstable disability among older adults. In this study, we measure the extent of short-term disability fluctuations and estimate their association with frailty using intensive longitudinal data.

Methods: Repeated measurements of disability were collected under a measurement burst design in the FRequent health Assessment In Later life (FRAIL70+) study.

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Background: There is evidence that overexposure to digital media devices (DMD) can not only lead to addictive patterns of internet use, but also cause insomnia symptoms. The aim of this cross-sectional study among adolescents is to provide an estimate of the prevalence of sleep impairments and to explore the mediating role of after-midnight use of DMD between internet-related addictive behavior (IRAB) and insomnia.

Methods: 2,712 school students from Styrian schools participated in a population-representative online survey in a supervised school setting in spring 2022.

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Unlabelled: Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) have been proven successful in a population-based approach to protect from SARS-CoV-2 transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequential-effect, a reduction in the spread of all respiratory viruses has been observed, but the primary factors behind this phenomenon have yet to be identified. We conducted a subgroup analysis of participants from the ELISA study, a prospective longitudinal cohort study on SARS-CoV-2 transmission, at four timepoints from November 2020 - September 2022.

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Diurnal rythm of Nampt is gender and weight dependent.

Obes Res Clin Pract

July 2024

University of Leipzig, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University Medical Center, Department of Women´s and Child Health, Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Leipzig, Germany; Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG) of the Helmholtz Zentrum München at the University of Leipzig and University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address:

Research Aim: Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt) is an adipocytokine that is elevated in obesity, type 2 diabetes and increased levels are associated with inflammatory processes. Nampt serum concentrations have been suggested to follow a diurnal rhythm peaking in the afternoon in lean males. However, no data exists regarding the effects of gender and body weight.

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Article Synopsis
  • - This systematic review and meta-analysis examine the link between psychological stressors and multiple sclerosis (MS), particularly their effect on disease onset, inflammatory activity, and progression.
  • - The review analyzed 30 studies with nearly 25,000 cases, finding a weak to moderate association between psychological stress and MS, with a notably higher risk of relapses related to stress from military conflicts.
  • - Overall, while there’s some evidence supporting a connection between stress and MS-related factors, many studies had biases and limitations, indicating that the impact of psychological stressors on MS is likely minor to modest.
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Background: German-speaking mothers have breastfeeding rates below the international breastfeeding recommendations. Previous research has found that breastfeeding self-efficacy is an important and modifiable predictor of breastfeeding outcomes, thus improving breastfeeding rates. The Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (BSES-SF) is used in many countries to assess maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy.

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Objectives: The aim of this paper is to present the development of a longitudinal curriculum for medical students that is rooted in the particularity of the medical sciences and that aims to build and strengthen medical students' scientific skills and use thereof in clinical practice.

Methods: The curriculum development was initiated based on students' feedback on the initial curriculum. To improve and expand the curriculum appropriately, a needs assessment, a literature review to define science specific to the medical sciences and practice, and an analysis of national and international curricula were performed.

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Objective: To evaluate a nurse-led decision coaching programme aiming to redistribute health professionals' tasks to support immunotherapy decision-making in people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: Cluster-randomised controlled trial with an accompanying mixed methods process evaluation (2014 - 2018). We planned to recruit 300 people with clinically isolated syndrome or relapsing-remitting MS facing immunotherapy decisions in 15 clusters across Germany.

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Background: Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the more common sexually transmitted diseases in Germany. Vaccination against HPV was introduced in Germany in 2007. In this study, we sought to detect a population-based decline in the incidence of cervical cancer in women under age 30 who were eligible for vaccination in the first 11 years after its introduction.

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(1) Background: Screen-detected breast cancer patients tend to have better survival than patients diagnosed with symptomatic cancer. The main driver of improved survival in screen-detected cancer is detection at earlier stage. An important bias is introduced by lead time, i.

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Short-term dynamics of loneliness and depressive symptoms: Gender differences in older adults.

Arch Gerontol Geriatr

August 2024

Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address:

Background: Previous research examining the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms often treated these constructs as static traits rather than dynamic states. The current study focused on the short-term, prospective link between loneliness and depressive symptoms, while also analyzing potential gender differences.

Methods: We modeled panel data from seven bi-weekly assessments gathered in the FRequent health Assessment In Later life (FRAIL70+) study.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores how voice-based technologies like smartphones and landlines were used to conduct ethnographic research during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.
  • These technologies facilitated data collection and helped establish connections with participants by aligning with their daily communication habits.
  • The researchers argue that such technologies not only allowed them to engage with participants while respecting health guidelines but also highlighted the importance of sound in their interactions.
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