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Purpose: This is the first study to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of a school-based prevention program in Germany. The aim is to determine the long-term effects of the primary prevention program PriMa (Primary prevention of anorexia nervosa in preadolescent girls) on disordered eating and body self-esteem from childhood to young adulthood.Methods: PriMa was conducted and successfully evaluated in a quasi-experimental pre-post design with a control group from 2007 to 2008 consisting of 11-13year old girls (N=1508) from Thuringian schools in Germany. Seven to eight years after the intervention, the same cohort (mean age 19.8years) was invited to complete an online survey. Disordered eating (EAT-26), body self-esteem (FBeK) and BMI were assessed via self-report. The response rate at seven-to-eight-year follow-up was very low (7%). Data of N=100 girls were analyzed.Results: Concerning changes in disordered eating, results revealed no significant long-term effect of PriMa seven to eight years after the intervention. During this time, disordered eating remained stable without a significant increase or decrease. Regarding changes in body self-esteem, group courses differed significantly from each other. The results revealed a significant main effect of group, indicating significant differences in changes of body self-esteem between the intervention and the control group. Following the analysis of these changes of body self-esteem over time, it was found that the intervention group revealed an increase of body self-esteem after program participation and remained stable over time. By contrast, the control group revealed a decrease of body self-esteem over time.Conclusions: Long-term intervention effects of PriMa could be found for body self-esteem but not for disordered eating. The findings suggest that PriMa prevented a decrease of body self-esteem from childhood to young adulthood. For a broader dissemination it is necessary to implement prevention programs consistently in school settings. In order to maintain the prevention effects, it would be interesting to investigate the effects of booster sessions which refresh the programs content on a regular basis. Furthermore, the results of this study revealed the implementation difficulties of primary prevention programs especially concerning the retention of the sample size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) is a self-report questionnaire for assessing parental attitudes to child weight and parental feeding practices. Previous evaluations of its psychometric properties were conducted primarily with small to medium-sized samples (N < 500) and a small range of children's age. The present study aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the CFQ in a large German community sample and, for the first time, to establish normative data. Within the population-based LIFE Child study, the CFQ was administered to N = 982 mothers of 2- to 13-year-old children. Psychometric analyses on item statistics and internal consistency were conducted. Using structural equation modeling, four empirically-based factorial models of the CFQ were evaluated, and measurement invariance across child age groups and sex was examined. Age-specific norms for the CFQ subscales were computed. Item statistics were highly favorable for the majority of items, but floor and ceiling effects were found for 14 of 31 items. Internal consistency of the CFQ subscales ranged from acceptable to excellent (0.71 ≤ α ≤ 0.91), except for the subscale Perceived Responsibility (α = 0.65). Regarding factorial validity, an eight-factor model with the newly created Reward subscale provided the best fit to the data. This model was factorial invariant across child sex and adjacent age groups. Maternal and child weight status showed large effects on CFQ subscale scores. The analyses established good psychometric properties for the German version of the CFQ and confirmed an eight-factor model. The provided norms allow for the comparison of individual parental feeding practices and change over time. The CFQ's sensitivity to change and longitudinal associations of parental feeding practices and child weight status warrant further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The prognosis for ovarian cancer patients remains poor. A key to maximizing survival rates is early detection and treatment. This requires an accurate prediction of malignancy. Our study seeks to improve the accuracy of prediction by focusing on early subjective assessment of malignancy. We therefore investigated the assessment of patients themselves in comparison to the assessment of physicians.Methods: One thousand three hundred and thirty patients participated in a prospective and multicenter study in six hospitals in Berlin. Using univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression models, we measured the accuracy of the early subjective assessment in comparison to the final histological outcome. Moreover, we investigated factors related to the assessment of patients and physicians.Results: The patients' assessment of malignancy is remarkably accurate. With a positive predictive value of 58%, the majority of patients correctly assessed a pelvic mass as malignant. With more information available, physicians achieved only a slightly more accurate prediction of 63%.Conclusions: For the first time, our study considered subjective factors in the diagnostic process of pelvic masses. This paper demonstrates that the patients' personal assessment should be taken seriously as it can provide a significant contribution to earlier diagnosis and thus improved therapy and overall prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of reproductive history on the outcome of different procedures in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) comparing IVF, ICSI, and cryopreserved embryo transfer (CPE).: DesignProspective registration of ART cycles and their outcomes.: SettingOne hundred three reproductive programs in Germany.: Patient(s)Women undergoing 174,909 ART procedures from January 1998 through December 2000.: Intervention(s)Data analysis of reproductive history collected by the German IVF Registry; multiple logistic regression modeling of success rates.: Main outcome measure(s)Effect of type of conception and outcome of previous pregnancies, duration of infertility, female’s age, and type of ART on clinical pregnancy rate per retrieval. Odds ratios with 95% CIs are reported.: Result(s)More than one previous pregnancy was negatively correlated with outcome of IVF, ICSI, or CPE. This association disappeared when female age was restricted to a maximum of 35 years. A previous pregnancy achieved by spontaneous conception had less impact on outcome of IVF, ICSI or CPE outcome than did a previous assisted conception. Previous live births and miscarriages demonstrated a statistically significant increase compared with ectopic pregnancies and induced abortions.: Conclusion(s)Reproductive history must be considered when counseling subfertile couples. Female age, method of conception, and previous pregnancy outcome have a significant effect on IVF, ICSI, and CPE outcome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: The features of a newly established, web-based surveillance system for hospital antibiotic consumption are described and data on broad-spectrum antibiotic use in German acute care hospitals are presented.Methods: The watch- and reserve-group antibiotics, two categories of antibiotics derived from the WHO Essential Medicines List comprising key agents for antimicrobial stewardship, were used as a framework for data analysis. The median antibiotic consumption densities (ACDs; DDD/100 patient days) for the years 2015/16 based on data from 137 acute care hospitals have been calculated for whole facilities, ICUs and medical and surgical departments, stratified by type of care.Results: The new web-based system provides real-time surveillance at unit and facility levels, accessible to all relevant stakeholders. User-defined reports are available via an interactive database, various report types support different approaches to analysis, and different complementing quantification measures of antimicrobial consumption are available. Watch- and reserve-group antibiotics accounted for 42% and 2% of total antibiotic use, respectively. Surgical services presented with considerably lower median ACDs of the watch-group antibiotics compared with medical services. Tertiary care hospitals exhibited higher ACDs of the reserve-group antibiotics and carbapenems than primary/secondary care hospitals, while the ACDs of the watch-group antibiotics as a whole did not differ significantly. Comparing the proportional use with other European countries revealed a relatively high use of the watch-group, ranking beyond the 75th percentile.Conclusions: Because of its particular features the new web-based surveillance system is a valuable tool for antimicrobial stewardship. The WHO categories of watch- and reserve-group antibiotics proved to be a useful framework for the analysis of hospital antibiotic consumption data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent feelings of gender dysphoria (GD) are accompanied by distress and body dissatisfaction in most clinically referred adolescents and adults. Transition-related medical interventions (e.g., puberty suppression, hormones, or surgery) may alleviate body dissatisfaction. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to compare multidimensional body image across clinically referred adolescents and adults undergoing different transition-related medical interventions. Two clinical samples of adolescents (n = 82) and adults (n = 120) referred to specialized departments of four different transgender health services in Germany participated in the study. In total, 202 individuals from the female-to-male (FtM individuals) and male-to-female (MtF individuals) spectrum aged 14-74 years were included at different stages of their transition. Four scales assessing multidimensional aspects of body image (measured by the Body Image Assessment Questionnaire, FBeK) were compared across three groups: sample, gender, and medical interventions (while controlling for age and treatment duration). The results indicated less favorable body image scores compared with the norm in both adolescents and adults with GD. Individuals who had undergone transition-related medical interventions presented a significantly better body image on two of the four scales. Differences according to gender and age were also present. These findings suggest that medical interventions, especially gender-affirming hormones and surgery, are generally beneficial to the body image in individuals with GD. However, not all of the less favorable outcomes in multidimensional body image were positively influenced by the treatment conditions and may thus benefit from additional integrative counseling before and during transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The year 2016 has marked the highest number of displaced people worldwide on record. A large number of these refugees are women, yet little is known about their specific situation and the hurdles they have to face during their journey. Herein, we investigated whether sociodemographic characteristics and traumatic experiences in the home country and during the flight affected the quality of life of refugee women arriving in Germany in 2015-2016.Methods: Six hundred sixty-three women from six countries (Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and Eritrea) living in shared reception facilities in five distinct German regions were interviewed by native speakers using a structured questionnaire. Sociodemographic data and information about reasons for fleeing, traumatic experiences, symptoms, quality of life, and expectations towards their future were elicited. All information was stored in a central database in Berlin. Descriptive analyses, correlations, and multivariate analyses were performed.Results: The most frequent reasons cited for fleeing were war, terror, and threat to one's life or the life of a family member. Eighty-seven percent of women resorted to smugglers to make the journey to Europe, and this significantly correlated to residence in a war zone (odds ratio (OR) = 2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.4-4.6, p = 0.003) and homelessness prior to fleeing (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1-4.3, p = 0.04). Overall the described quality of life by the women was moderate (overall mean = 3.23, range of 1-5) and slightly worse than that of European populations (overall mean = 3.68, p < 0.0001). The main reasons correlating with lower quality of life were older age, having had a near-death experience, having been attacked by a family member, and absence of health care in case of illness.Conclusions: Refugee women experience multiple traumatic experiences before and/or during their journey, some of which are gender-specific. These experiences affect the quality of life in their current country of residence and might impact their integration. We encourage the early investigation of these traumatic experiences to rapidly identify women at higher risk and to improve health care for somatic and mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Many patients with schizophrenia have a desire for shared decision-making (SDM). However, in clinical practice SDM often does not take place. One cause might be that many patients behave passively in the medical encounter, therefore not facilitating SDM. It was the aim of the study to evaluate the effects of a patient directed SDM-training on patients' communicative behavior in the consultation, their attitudes towards decision-making and their long-term adherence.Methods: Randomized-controlled trial comparing a five-session SDM-training for inpatients with schizophrenia with five sessions of non-specific group training. The SDM-training sessions included motivational (e.g. prospects of participation, patient rights) and behavioral aspects (e.g. role plays) and addressed important aspects of the patient-doctor interaction such as question asking or giving feedback.Results: N = 264 patients were recruited in four psychiatric hospitals in Germany. The SDM-training yielded no group differences regarding the main outcome measure (treatment adherence) at 6 and 12 months after discharge. However, there were short-term effects on patients' participation preferences, their wish to take over more responsibility for medical decisions and (according to their psychiatrists' estimate) their behavior in psychiatric consultations.Conclusions: While there was no effect regarding treatment adherence, the shared decision-making training for inpatients with schizophrenia has been shown to increase patients' active behavior in psychiatric consultations during their inpatient treatment. When implemented it should be combined with complementary SDM interventions (decision support tools and communication training for professionals) to yield maximum effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, there has been an increased research focus on adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients. Few longitudinal studies have taken into consideration the specifics of their life situation and the status of psychosocial care services for this population. Our ongoing study aims to determine the psychosocial life and supportive care situation of AYA cancer patients, to describe risk groups, and to develop recommendations for their psycho-oncological care and support.Methods: The AYA-Leipzig study (AYA-LE) is a German prospective, longitudinal, study examining AYAs´ life situation (e.g. psychological distress, quality of life) and psychosocial care (e.g. evaluation and preferences, support needs) using two measurement points, namely, upon acute treatment completion (baseline) and 12 months later. N = 577 AYA cancer patients aged between 18 and 39 years at diagnosis, and representing all major tumor entities fill out a standardized questionnaire (online or by post), mainly based on validated instruments. AYA-specific concerns (e.g. family planning, sexual and reproductive health, social support, health behavior) will explicitly be considered. Participants are recruited in 16 German acute care hospitals, four rehabilitation clinics, and from two German state tumor registries.Discussion: In summary, our longitudinal study will create a large database encompassing all malignant tumor entities and including detailed information about the distress and quality of life, specific problems, and specific support needs of AYA cancer patients at two different points in time post-diagnosis. The information we gather about existing psychosocial care and patient preferences and desires concerning psycho-oncological care will be used to develop recommendations for psycho-oncological care providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the proportion and the characteristics of community-dwelling people with dementia (PWD) living alone in Germany.Objectives: To analyze the prevalence of PWD living alone (with and without the support of an informal caregiver) and socio-demographical and clinical characteristics as well as health and nursing care utilization associated with living alone.Methods: DelpHi-MV (Dementia: Life- and person-centered help in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) is a general practitioner-based, randomized controlled intervention trial. The present analyses are based on baseline data of 511 patients (≥70 years, community-dwelling) who had screened positive for dementia (DemTect <9).Results: N = 251 (51%) of the patients lived alone. PWD living alone were statistically significantly more often female, older, and more often widowed than those not living alone. About 9% of the patients (n = 24) were not supported by any informal caregiver. Regarding the clinical variables (cognitive and functional impairment, depression, falls, number of drug-related problems, malnutrition, quality of life), there were no statistically significant group differences. Patients living alone utilized professional services such as home care, help with medication, home-delivered meals, or housekeeping assistance significantly more often. Multivariate analyses confirmed these findings.Conclusion: Our results reveal the high proportion of PWD living alone in Germany. PWD living alone did not seem to be at an increased health risk. Our findings indicate that living alone with dementia is possible. In order to ensure the sufficient provision of health and nursing care services for PWD living alone, providers should consider the present results for future planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To provide an optimal care for persons with dementia (PWD), their individual unmet needs have to be identified and comprehensively addressed.Objectives: Present analyses aim to describe the number and types of unmet needs of German primary care patients screened positive for dementia and factors associated with the number of unmet needs.Methods: DelpHi-MV (Dementia: life- and person-centered help in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) is a general practitioner-based, cluster-randomized controlled intervention trial. Analyses are based on the baseline data of 227 PWD (≥70 years, living at home) of the intervention group who had screened positive for dementia (DemTect<9) and received a standardized computer-assisted needs assessment.Results: PWD had on average 8.77±5.04 unmet needs (Range = 0-31). More than 90% of the PWD had three or more unmet needs. Unmet needs were identified across all predefined 26 subcategories. The majority of unmet needs occurred in the domains "nursing treatment and care" (38%), "social counseling and legal support" (20%), and "pharmacological treatment and care" (15%). More impairment in the activities of daily living was the only factor that was significantly associated with a higher number of unmet needs, independent of age, gender, living situation, presence of an informal caregiver, cognitive impairment, and depression.Conclusions: Present results demonstrate that community-dwelling PWD had a broad range of varying unmet needs. These findings emphasize the importance of a comprehensive needs assessment that allows the identification of individual needs as the basis for a tailored intervention- such as Dementia Care Management- that can address these needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the most important clinical infection. Therefore, the CAP competence network CAPNETZ was instituted in Germany. The aim of this substudy was to evaluate the value of pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) and pro-vasopressin (CT-proAVP) for severity assessment and outcome prediction in CAP.Design: Prospective observational study.Setting: German CAP competence network CAPNETZ.Methods: We enrolled 589 patients (age 61+/-18 years, 46% female) with proven CAP. MR-proANP, CT-proAVP, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and CRB-65 score were determined on admission.Results: MR-proANP, CT-proAVP and PCT levels, but not CRP, increased with increasing severity of CAP, classified according to the CRB-65 score. In patients who died during 28-day follow-up, median MR-proANP and CT-proAVP levels (respectively 237.0 vs. 93.5 pmol/l and 44.2 vs. 12.4 pmol/l, each p<0.0001) were significantly higher than in survivors. In receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for survival, the area under the curve (AUC) values for CT-proAVP (0.86, 95% CI 0.83-0.89) and MR-proANP (0.76, 95% CI 0.72-0.80) were similar to the AUC of CRB-65 (0.73, 95% CI 0.70-0.77). In multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression analyses including MR-proANP/CT-proAVP, coexisting illnesses and CRB-65, increased MR-proANP and CT-proAVP concentrations were the strongest predictors of mortality.Conclusions: MR-proANP and CT-proAVP are useful new biomarkers for the risk stratification of CAP patients. They are significantly lower in CAP survivors and correlate with the severity of the disease measured by CRB-65 score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the maternal and fetal side effects of transdermal nitroglycerin and intravenous fenoterol combined with magnesium sulfate in a prospective randomised study. Study design: Fifty pregnant women between 27 and 35 weeks of gestation with preterm labour were treated with either nitroglycerin (0.4–0.8 mg/h) or fenoterol (60 – 120 μg/h). Outcome parameters were (1) the effects on fetal and maternal heart frequency (FHF / MHF) and blood pressure, and (2) subjective experiences of adverse effects assessed by utilising a questionnaire. Results: In the fenoterol group, elevated mean MHF, FHF and systolic blood pressure were recorded compared to nitroglycerin. Fewer maternal side effects were reported in the nitroglycerin group. Palpitations (82%), tremor (68%) and restlessness (64%) were most common in the fenoterol group (two drop-outs), whereas nitroglycerin caused headaches in 71% of the cases (four drop-outs). Conclusion: Transdermal nitroglycerin appears to be a safe therapy for the mother and fetus and is a promising new option for the treatment of preterm labour. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Advocacy, resources and intersubjective reasonable arguments are known as factors that contribute to smoke-free (SF) adoption and implementation in Chinese and Anglo-Saxon places. Less is known about how the implementation of smoking bans differs across European places. The aim of this qualitative comparative study is to identify and classify the SF policy implementation processes and types undertaken at the local level in seven European cities according to the views of local bureaucrats and sub-national stakeholders. Semi-structured expert interviews (n = 56) with local decision makers and stakeholders were conducted as qualitative part of the comparative SILNE-R project in Belgium (Namur), Finland (Tampere), Germany (Hanover), the Republic of Ireland (Dublin), the Netherlands (Amersfoort), Italy (Latina), and Portugal (Coimbra). Qualitative interviews were analyzed using the framework analysis. Implementation of SF environments predominantly focuses on indoor bans or youth-related settings. Progressive-hungry (Dublin), moderate-rational (Tampere), upper-saturated (Hanover, Amersfoort), and lower saturated (Namur, Coimbra, Latina) implementation types can be distinguished. These four types differ with regards to their engagement in enhancing SF places as well as along their level of perceived tobacco de-normalization and public smoking visibility. In all municipalities SF environments are adopted at national levels, but are differently implemented at the local level due national policy environments, enforcement strategies and the level of collaboration. Major mechanisms to expand SF regulations were found to be scientific evidence, public support, and the child protection frame. However, counter-mechanisms of closure occur if data on declining prevalence and new youth addiction trends trigger low prioritization. This study found four SF implementation types two mechanisms of progressive expansion and defensive closure. Development and enhancement of smoking bans requires a suitable national policy environment and indirect national-level support of self-governed local initiatives. Future SF policies can be enhanced by laws pertaining to places frequented by minors. • Little is known how smoking bans are implemented and enhanced in European cities. • This realist study compares 7 medium-sized cities located in the European Union. • Belgian, Finnish, Irish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese cities are studied. • We found 4 types and 2 mechanisms of progressive expansion and defensive closure. • SF enhancement needs support from national levels and modernization of SF laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]