GMS German Medical Science最新文献

{"title":"Socio-economic inequalities in the association between diabetes and labour force participation in Germany: A repeated cross-sectional study.","authors":"Malwina M Mackowiak, Ralph Brinks, Annika Hoyer, Ute Linnenkamp, Katharina Piedboeuf-Potyka, Markus Neuhäuser, Oliver Kuss, Thaddäus Tönnies","doi":"10.3205/000340","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000340","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Diabetes is associated with lower labour force participation. The proportion of people having diabetes is higher among people with a low socio-economic position. We aimed to describe socio-economic differences in the association between diabetes and labour force participation in Germany.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Based on repeated cross-sectional data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, the probability for participating in labour force was modelled with a logistic regression model including diabetes status, sex, socio-economic position, survey year and age as independent variables. Analyses accounted for the complex survey design of the study and used post-stratification weights. For easier interpretation, we estimated relative risks instead of odds ratios from logistic regression using post-estimation techniques. Relative labour force participation shortfall [%] was calculated as (1 - relative risk) x 100.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Labour force participation among people without diabetes was 82.2% compared to 55.9% among people with diabetes. Labour force participation shortfall was higher for low socio-economic position values and decreased with increasing socio-economic position. Labour force participation shortfall was generally larger among women while the association between labour force participation shortfall and socio-economic position was stronger among men.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Diabetes-associated labour force participation shortfall mainly affects people with low socio-economic position, which indicates that this population subgroup not only carries a higher risk of diabetes, but also might be more strongly affected by its negative impact on productivity. Future studies aiming to quantify diabetes-associated productivity losses should take associations specific to socio-economic position into account.</p>","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"23 ","pages":"Doc04"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12247544/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144627367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evidence-based guideline diagnosis, treatment, prevention and aftercare of oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma.","authors":"Andreas Dietz, Kathy Taylor, Oliver Bayer, Susanne Singer, Markus Follmann, Monika Nothacker, Thomas Langer, Peter Klussmann, Stephan Lang, Thomas Hoffmann, Georg Maschmeyer, Susanne Wiegand, Michael Fuchs, Wilko Weichert, Jochen Heß, Orlando Guntinas-Lichius, Tim Waterboer, Michael Lell, Jens Büntzel, Panagiotis Balermpas, Kerstin Schmidt, Maria Steingräber, Gunther Klautke, Herbert Hellmund, Gunthard Kissinger, Peter Brossart, Imad Maatouk, Bernd Lethaus, Jan Raguse, Klaus Zöphel, Kristina Lippach, Fritz Sterr, Hans Christiansen, Christian Duncker, Annerose Keilmann, Havva Cici, Jutta Yzer, Alessandro Relic, Kerstin Paradies, Wilfried Budach","doi":"10.3205/000339","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000339","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The guideline is being drawn up as a joint guideline for oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Oropharyngeal carcinoma in particular has experienced the greatest increase in incidence among all head and neck carcinomas in the last 20 years and is now the sixth most common cancer in men in Germany. Together with hypopharyngeal carcinoma, these tumors are currently the most common cancer entity in the head and neck region. Due to the association with human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16), we now distinguish two groups of oropharyngeal carcinomas in Germany: HPV16-positive (approx. 35%) and HPV-negative (approx. 65%). A HPV16 association with hypopharyngeal carcinoma has not been described. The therapy covers the entire spectrum of head and neck surgery, including diversified reconstructive procedures, transoral and external approaches, the options for primary and adjuvant radiotherapy (possibly in combination with chemotherapy) and the current recommendations for drug-based tumor therapy, which range from classic chemotherapy to immuno-oncology. In addition, measures for early detection and prevention are carried out, with particular consideration of the HPV16-associated genesis of oropharyngeal carcinoma, as well as adequate rehabilitation after the primary treatment of oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinomas. Finally, the treatment options for recurrences or distant metastases that cannot be cured in the further course of the disease are shown and classified.</p>","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"23 ","pages":"Doc03"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12247573/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144627365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rehabilitation of the lower extremities, standing and walking function in people with spinal cord injury or disease: Guideline of the German-Speaking Medical Society for Spinal Cord Injury.","authors":"Sophie Irrgang, Sandra Himmelhaus, Kirstin Allek, Claudio Bartholet, Ines Bersch-Porada, Armin Curt, Burkhart Huber, Daniel Kuhn, Karen Kynast, Norbert Weidner, Anke Scheel-Sailer","doi":"10.3205/000338","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000338","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>According of the level and severity of the spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D), and the impairment of motor, sensory, and autonomic functions, individuals with SCI/D recover some standing and walking capabilities. To increase quality of rehabilitation and use newest evidence, the clinical practice guideline (CPG) \"S2e-Guideline Rehabilitation of lower extremities, standing and walking function in people with SCI/D\" of the German speaking Medical Association for Paraplegiology (DMGP) was updated.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Following a multi-tiered approach systematic searches were conducted to identify appropriate literature. For this purpose, the Databases PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and PEDro were searched. Recommendations on assessments were grouped to the categories \"activity and participation\" or \"body functions/body structures\". Recommendations on interventions were labeled with outcomes standing, walking, strength, range of motion, pain and muscle tonus.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 9,871 studies were identified during the search. Of these, four systematic reviews and eleven primary studies were utilized in composing the recommendations. A total of 25 recommendations were made, with 20 derived from the literature and 5 based on expert consensus. In total 14 functional assessments and 11 rehabilitation interventions became compiled. The assembled recommendations regarding assessments could be well built on published literature, while overall there is a paucity of literature proofing the evidence of specific interventions used in clinical practice. Therefore, the expertise of the international expert group and input from patient representatives were pivotal.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The method of an evidence-based guideline was sufficient for the recommendation of functional assessments but showed the need scientific clarification in the field of clinically established interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"23 ","pages":"Doc02"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12247552/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144627366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Medical laboratory diagnostics in Germany - a status report 2024.","authors":"Michael Vogeser, Timo Schumacher, Frank Bühling","doi":"10.3205/000337","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000337","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background and aim of the work: &lt;/strong&gt;Laboratory diagnostics (in-vitro diagnostics, IVD) is one of the main pillars of evidence-based medicine; for many medical fields - such as endocrinology - laboratory tests are conditional, but not indispensable for any discipline. The majority of diagnoses can only be reliably made if laboratory tests are taken into account. The aim of this study is to describe the provision of IVDs to the population in Germany in an overall view and to discuss development perspectives in the sense of basic healthcare research, particularly on the basis of publicly accessible data.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods: &lt;/strong&gt;For this purpose, in particular the federal health reporting, reports of the German Federal Statistical Office, the medical register of the German Medical Association and data from the Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians were analysed, as well as a large amount of publicly accessible information from associations and medical institutions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;The provision of laboratory services in Germany is strongly interlinked between the sectors as they are offered by practicing laboratory physicians, in inpatient facilities and also directly in the practices and medical care centres of other specialist groups. There are currently around 1,200 specialists in laboratory medicine and 840 specialists in microbiology, which together equates to around 0,7% of all specialized physicians in Germany. Around 2/3 of laboratory physicians work in private practice. After the group of general practitioners, laboratory doctors are the second most frequently consulted group of doctors in Germany as representatives of a non-curative specialty. A total of around 108,000 people work in medical laboratories (1.8% of the entire healthcare workforce). The annual cost of laboratory diagnostics is around 150 euros per capita, totaling around 12.9 billion euros per year, which corresponds to around 2.6% of the total costs of the German healthcare system. Only around 17% of hospitals - predominantly maximum care facilities - have their own laboratory infrastructure, while the majority of hospitals are supplied with laboratory services by practicing laboratory doctors. In the latter, it is now predominantly quite large laboratory medicine units that provide laboratory tests nationwide on the basis of a complex logistics and data infrastructure, which is flanked by patient-related laboratory diagnostics in practices and medical care centres in a wide range of disciplines.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusion: &lt;/strong&gt;A fairly comprehensive picture of the provision of laboratory services in Germany can be obtained from publicly accessible sources. Laboratory diagnostics is an essential and efficient, system-relevant element of the German healthcare system, in which a relatively small number of medical specialists and healthcare professionals bear a great degree of responsibility for maintaining adequate care","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"23 ","pages":"Doc01"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12101470/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144143884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From evidence to care delivery: Opportunities and risks in health and science policy. A position paper of the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF).","authors":"Bernhard Wörmann, Ina Kopp, Monika Nothacker, Ernst Klar, Martin Sedlmayr, Michael Vogeser, Henning Schliephake, Rolf-Detlef Treede","doi":"10.3205/000336","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000336","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>After over 25 years of developing clinical practice guidelines, the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) held a symposium to discuss the following topics in order to improve the way evidence is implemented in the delivery of care: expansion of the data pool for guideline development, the regulatory policy framework for this expansion, the transfer of clinical practice guideline statements to medical practice, the associated opportunities and risks resulting from the European legislation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The AWMF held its Berlin Forum on 27 April 2022 where experts from scientific medical societies and national institutions in the healthcare sector reported their experiences and perceptions on the topics mentioned. Three writing groups compiled the key statements from these contributions to and discussions made at the Berlin Forum into a position paper.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The AWMF recommends the following:- The creation of a digital infrastructure that serves the quality assurance of clinical practice guidelines and makes their content available at the bedside and during consultations- An increase in the number of industry-independent clinical trials on prevention, diagnostics and therapy with medicinal products, medical devices or other procedures - The funding of registry structures to generate point-of-care healthcare data- The reduction of excessive bureaucratic hurdles at both the national and EU level.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>By making concrete recommendations in this position paper, the AWMF maps out the steps required to improve the translation of evidence to the delivery of clinical care.</p>","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Doc10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11636552/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142819645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pathology in the legal framework of European and German medical device law: Operation, use and in-house manufacture of in vitro diagnostic medical devices.","authors":"Andy Kahles, Hannah Goldschmid, Anna-Lena Volckmar, Daniel Kazdal, Ulrich M Gassner, Michael Vogeser, Monika Brüggemann, Karl-Friedrich Bürrig, Vanessa Kääb-Sanyal, Christa Flechtenmacher, Peter Schirmacher, Albrecht Stenzinger","doi":"10.3205/000335","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000335","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Institutes for pathology act as operators, users and in-house manufacturers of in vitro diagnostic medical devices and are subject to national and European regulations depending on their function. The entry into force of the EU regulation on medical devices (Regulation (EU) 2017/745, MDR) and the EU regulation on in vitro diagnostic medical devices (Regulation (EU) 2017/746, IVDR) resulted in a need for regulatory adjustments to German medical device law. This has created a new legal framework in which institutes for pathology operate, depending on their function as users, operators or in-house manufacturers of in vitro diagnostic medical devices. This overview of the current legal situation represents a snapshot and provides an up-to-date overview of the landscape of European and German medical device law.</p>","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Doc09"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11570832/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142669505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Significance of EEG-electrode combinations while calculating filters with common spatial patterns.","authors":"Dominik Wetzel, Paul-Philipp Jacobs, Dirk Winkler, Ronny Grunert","doi":"10.3205/000334","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000334","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Common spatial pattern (CSP) is a common filter technique used for pre-processing of electroencephalography (EEG) signals for imaginary movement classification tasks. It is crucial to reduce the amount of features especially in cases where few data is available. Therefore, different approaches to reduce the amount of electrodes used for CSP calculation are tried in this research.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Freely available EEG datasets are used for the evaluation. To evaluate the approaches a simple classification pipeline consisting mainly of the CSP calculation and linear discriminant analysis for classification is used. A baseline over all electrodes is calculated and compared against the results of the approaches.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The most promising approach is to use the ability of CSP to provide information about the origin of the created filter. An algorithm that extracts the important electrodes from the CSP utilizing these information is proposed.The results show that using subject specific electrode positions has a positive impact on accuracy for the classification task. Further, it is shown that good performing electrode combinations in one session are not necessarily good performing electrodes in another session of the same subject. In addition to the combinations calculated using the developed algorithm, 26 additional electrode combinations are proposed. These can be taken into account when selecting well-performing electrode combinations. In this research we could achieve an accuracy improvement of over 10%.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Carefully selecting the correct electrode combination can improve accuracy for classifying an imaginary movement task.</p>","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Doc08"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11463027/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142394073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Error assessment of subjective estimates of linear breast dimensions versus the objective method.","authors":"Parthena Karavasili, Helga Henseler","doi":"10.3205/000333","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000333","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objective: &lt;/strong&gt;The study aimed to investigate the subjective method of estimating linear breast dimensions in comparison to the objective method.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods: &lt;/strong&gt;The reproducibility and accuracy of the subjective method of estimating linear breast dimensions during a simplified breast shape analysis were examined. Four linear breast dimensions including the distance from the sternal notch to the nipple, distance from the nipple to the inframammary fold, distance from the nipple to the midline and under-breast width were evaluated based on subjective estimates. Images from 100 women with natural breasts and without any history of breast surgery were reviewed by two examiners three times each. The cases were obtained from a large database of breast images captured using the Vectra Camera System (Canfield Scientific Inc., USA). The subjective data were then compared with the objective linear data from the Vectra Camera System in the automated analysis. Statistical evaluation was conducted between the three repeated estimates of each examiner, between the two examiners and between the objective and subjective data.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;The intra-individual variations of the three subjective estimates were significantly greater in one examiner than in the other. This trend was consistent across all eight parameters in the majority of the comparisons of the standard deviations and variation coefficients, and the differences were significant in 14 out of 16 comparisons (p&lt;0.05). Conversely, in the comparison between the subjective and objective data, the estimates were closer to the measurements in one examiner than the other. In contrast to the reproducibility observed, the assessment of the accuracy revealed that the examiner who previously presented with less reproducibility of the estimated data overall showed better accuracy in comparison to the objective data. The overall differences were inconsistent, with some being positive and others being negative. Regarding the distances from the sternal notch to the nipple and breast width, both examiners underestimated the values. However, the deviations were at different levels, particularly when considering the objective data from the Vectra Camera System as the gold standard data for comparison. Regarding the distance from the nipple to the inframammary fold, one examiner underestimated the distance, while the other overestimated it. An opposite trend was noted for the distance from the nipple to the midline. There were no differences in the estimates between the right and left sides of the breasts. The correlations between the measured and estimated distances were positive: as the objective distances increased, the subjective distances also increased. In all cases, the correlations were significant. However, the correlation for the breast width was notably weaker than that for the other distances.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;The error assessment of the","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Doc07"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11367253/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142120839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Position statement on genuine physiotherapy research at German university hospitals.","authors":"Susanne G R Klotz, Andrea Bökel, Maria Friderichs-Nedohibchenko, Isabelle Stickdorn, Barbara Vogel, Bernd Doods, Franziska Feldmann, Mirko Ghiazza, Markus Giehl, Annika Hoberg, Lynn Jansen, Daniel Kohlhofer, Ralf Leonhardt, Sebastian-Florian Meier, Carina Müller, Miriam Pannzek, Simone Schwarz, Martina Traut, Maria Urdahl","doi":"10.3205/000332","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000332","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In addition to patient care, physiotherapy is increasingly important in research at university hospitals. Genuine physiotherapy research plays a decisive role in this. This position statement describes the opportunities, benefits, framework conditions, challenges, and research priorities of genuine physiotherapy research at German university hospitals.</p>","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Doc06"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11176936/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141332099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Self-help support: The Alzheimer's telephone from the user's perspective.","authors":"Alexander Kurz, Ina Maria Fischer, Vildan Dogan, Carolin Kurz","doi":"10.3205/000331","DOIUrl":"10.3205/000331","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Telephone counseling is an important form of support for informal carers of persons with dementia. The quality and benefit of this kind of service have rarely been evaluated in Germany.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We developed a survey to assess the quality of telephone counseling. We conducted an online survey among 201 users of the telephone hotline \"Alzheimer-Telefon\" (Alzheimer's telephone service) provided by the German Alzheimer's Association after the consultation. The aim of the study was to determine whether this form of telephone support meets certain quality criteria and the callers' needs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 201 participants, 80% were female. The mean age of the callers was 51 years. 74% of cases were one-off consultations; 26% of the callers sought advice twice or more often. The most common reasons for calling included behavioral changes (45%) and finding a nursing home (41%). Other family members were significantly (p=0.036) more likely to seek local respite options. Based on the 201 online questionnaires evaluated, most callers were highly satisfied with the counseling services provided by the Alzheimer's telephone service. Those seeking advice were particularly satisfied with the appreciative and empathetic communication style of the advisors and their professional competence. This also applies to the accessibility of the telephone. More than three quarters were fully satisfied with the information they received. Almost half of the callers were sure that the advice would help to solve their issue. 14% of people seeking advice were uncertain about how to implement the suggested solutions.A further survey would be worthwhile to determine to what extent the topics of the consultation can be implemented. The feedback from relatives who use the Alzheimer's telephone repeatedly could be used for this purpose - the repetition rate is currently 25% and the trend is rising. Results could be interesting for successful counseling and for the development of further support services.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The telephone hotline is a useful component of dementia care in Germany and an important contribution to the National Dementia Strategy.</p>","PeriodicalId":39243,"journal":{"name":"GMS German Medical Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Doc05"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11176817/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141332100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}