Wolfgang Hoffmann

University of Greifswald

Background Aim of this study was to detect predictors of better adherence to the AgeWell.de-intervention, a two-year randomized multi-domain lifestyle intervention against cognitive decline. Methods Data of 317 intervention group-participants comprising a risk group for dementia (Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Ageing and Dementia (CAIDE) score of ≥...

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to analyze discrepancies between self‐ and proxy‐rated health‐related quality of life (HRQoL), measured with the EuroQol 5 Dimension 5 Level survey (EQ‐5D‐5L), in people living with dementia (PlwD) and their caregivers on an individual response level. METHODS EQ‐5D‐5L, sociodemographic and clinical data were...

Background: Determining unmet need patterns and associated factors in primary care can potentially specify assessment batteries and tailor interventions in dementia more efficiently. Objective: To identify latent unmet healthcare need patterns and associated sociodemographic and clinical factors. Methods: This Latent Class Analysis (LCA) includes n...

While regular physical-activity (PA) is beneficial, multimorbid individuals at increased dementia risk may exhibit reduced PA levels. Thus, a more comprehensive understanding of mediating factors responsible for inactivity in this population is needed. This study investigated the impact of a multimodal intervention on PA changes at 24-month follow-...

Background: Caregivers of people with dementia living at home (CPwDh) are likely to be affected by a range of health problems. However, CPwDh are often regarded as accompanying persons and receive less attention in research and care. Little is known about this population and their needs in Germany. However, better knowledge of CPwDH is needed to d...

Purpose Quality of Life (QoL) is associated with a bandwidth of lifestyle factors that can be subdivided into fixed and potentially modifiable ones. We know too little about the role of potentially modifiable factors in comparison to fixed ones. This study examines four aspects of QoL and its associations with 15 factors in a sample of elderly prim...

Einführung: In ländlichen Regionen gibt es immer weniger Notaufnahmen mit pädiatrischer Fachexpertise. Telemedizinische Lösungen werden vereinzelt eingesetzt, bringen jedoch besondere Herausforderungen mit sich, da für Einschätzungen des kindlichen Gesundheitsstatus Sinne wie der Tast- und Geruchssinn nicht eingesetzt werden können. Im Projekt wurd...

Background The healthcare needs of People living with Dementia (PlwD) (such as Alzheimer’s disease) are often unmet. Information about the needs of community-dwelling PlwD and their association with sociodemographic and clinical characteristics is needed to fill the knowledge gap regarding factors influencing unmet needs among PlwD and to conduct a...

Background Due to unidentified geriatric needs, elderly patients have a higher risk for developing chronic conditions and acute medical complications. Early geriatric screenings and assessments help to identify geriatric needs. Holistic and coordinated therapeutic approaches addressing those needs maintain the independence of elderly patients and a...

Background In Germany, all citizens must purchase health insurance, in either statutory (SHI) or private health insurance (PHI). Because of the division into SHI and PHI, person insurance’s status is an important variable for studies in the context of public health research. In the German National Cohort (NAKO), the variable on self-reported health...

Background: Studies demonstrate associations between low social activity in older adults and cognitive decline. Little has been investigated regarding which factors are associated with low social activity in older adults at increased risk of dementia. Objective: We investigate which sociodemographic, psychological, health-related, and environmental...

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the role of support from the social environment for the life expectancy in people with dementia beyond well-established individual demographic and clinical predictors over a period of up to 8 years. Methods The analyses are based on data from 500 community-dwelling individuals in Germany who test...

Little is known about the progression of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and predicting factors in spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA). Such knowledge is crucial to identify modifiable factors promoting everyday life with SCA and attenuating HRQoL decline. This study is to assess HRQoL progression and identify factors affecting SCA patients’ HRQoL....

Zusammenfassung Ziel Ziel ist die Analyse pandemiebedingter Auswirkungen auf den Alltag und die psychosoziale Gesundheit der bislang wenig untersuchten vulnerablen Gruppe zu Hause lebender, kognitiv beeinträchtigter älterer Menschen. Methodik Mittels strukturierter Telefoninterviews 2020 (n+=+141) und 2021 (n+=+107) wurden über 65-Jährige mit kogni...

Introduction Differences between women and men matter in the prevalence and risk factors of dementia. We aimed to examine potential sex differences regarding the effectiveness by running a secondary analysis of the AgeWell.de trial, a cluster-randomized multicenter multi-domain lifestyle intervention to reduce cognitive decline. Methods Intention-...

Background Almost two‐thirds of people with dementia (PwD) living at home receive care from a family or other informal caregiver. Evidence shows that family caregivers experience increased physical, psychological, emotional, and social stress which, in the long term, results in adverse health outcomes. The development of effective healthcare and su...

Background As the German population ages, the number of people with dementia is predicted to rise considerably in the upcoming decades. In the absence of a disease‐modifying treatment, prevention is key to curb the growing numbers of dementia cases. In order to tailor prevention approaches to the German context, knowledge about the potential for pr...

Background Almost two‐thirds of people with dementia (PwD) living at home receive care from a family or other informal caregiver. Evidence shows that family caregivers experience increased physical, psychological, emotional, and social stress which, in the long term, results in adverse health outcomes. The development of effective healthcare and su...

Background Persons living with dementia (PwD) are commonly affected by low‐value medications (Lvm), i.e., medications unlikely to benefit patients but to cause harm. Lvm in PwD have been associated with negative physical, psychological, and financial outcomes. However, longitudinal effects have not yet been evaluated. Therefore, we aimed to analyze...

Background Almost two‐thirds of people with dementia (PwD) living at home receive care from informal caregivers. The caregiver’s work load can be comparable or above a full‐time employment. Evidence shows that family caregivers have a higher risk for psychiatric and non‐psychiatric diseases compared to non‐caregivers. A dyadic approach on disease m...

Background It is well established that socioeconomic disadvantages such as low income are associated with a higher risk for poor cognitive health in old age. Under the concept of social deprivation, researchers have recently started exploring a broader concept of social embedding including, for instance, unemployment and asset ownership. However, l...

Around 1.8 million people in Germany live with dementia. Ascending trend. Discharging people with cognitive impairment from the hospital and transitioning them to outpatient care brings special challenges and presents the health care system with a new and increasingly important task. In Germany there are legal efforts (§39 paragraph 1a, SGB V) to c...

Background There is a need to examine whether evidence based collaborative care management can be beneficial to people with cognitive impairment transitioning from hospital to primary care. Method We conducted a longitudinal multisite randomized controlled trial with two arms (care as usual and care as usual + intersectoral care management) and tw...

Background Mounting evidence suggests that dementia can be prevented. Targeting several risk factors simultaneously constitutes a promising strategy for preserving cognitive function. The AgeWell.de‐study was a cluster‐randomized trial applying a multi‐domain intervention to preserve cognitive function in older adults at risk for dementia in German...

Background: The national Network Genomic Medicine (nNGM) Lung Cancer provides comprehensive and high-quality multiplex molecular diagnostics and standardized personalized treatment recommendation for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC) in Germany. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the nNGM...

Objective: Recent studies suggest that psychosocial factors can have an impact on brain health. Yet, it is unclear whether psychosocial stress affects aging of the brain. The aim of the study was to investigate the association between psychosocial stress and brain aging. Methods: Data from the German population-based cohort Study of Health in Po...

Social–emotional skills as valid predictors for subsequent school success should be promoted in early childhood. Preschools are a relevant setting to reach children from families with low socioeconomic status. The federal state law for children´s day-care and preschools in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania offers preschools in difficult so...

Background: Early childhood is essential for a child’s overall development. Twenty to 30%of children are impaired by a lack of needed social and emotional skills when starting school. Children living in socioeconomic deprivation are particularly affected. Early childhood development is determined by family socioeconomic status (SES) and regional so...

Aims To investigate factors that influence the willingness of inactive nurses to return to nursing in a crisis situation and to identify aspects that need to be considered with regard to a possible deployment. Design A deductive and inductive qualitative content analysis of semi‐structured focus group interviews. Methods Semi‐structured focus gro...

INTRODUCTION We investigated the effectiveness of a multidomain intervention to preserve cognitive function in older adults at risk for dementia in Germany in a cluster‐randomized trial. METHODS Individuals with a Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia (CAIDE) risk score ≥ 9 aged 60 to 77 years were recruited. After randomization of thei...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Die Folgen der Ökonomisierung und der Personalmangel im deutschen Gesundheitswesen treffen pädiatrische Versorgungsstrukturen stark, insbesondere in ländlichen Regionen. Es ist kaum bekannt, wie sich Schließungen pädiatrischer Abteilungen auf Patientenströme umliegender Krankenhäuser auswirken. Fragestellung: Welche quan...

Introduction In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a general lockdown was enacted across Germany in March 2020. As a consequence, patients with mental health conditions received limited or no treatment in day hospitals and outpatient settings. To ensure continuity of care, the necessary technological preparations were made to enable the implementat...

To develop effective dementia prevention strategies, it is necessary to understand risk factors, associated factors and early signs of dementia. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is the earliest form of dementia. The aim of this study is to assess depression as a factor that is significantly associated with SCD. The data of 1030 general practition...

Purpose A setting-sensitive instrument for assessing Quality of Life (QoL) in Telemedicine (TM) was unavailable. To close this gap, a content-valid “add-on” measure was developed. In parallel, a brief index was derived featuring six items that summarise the main content of the multidimensional assessment. After pre- and pilot-testing, the psychomet...

Background The severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic causes a high burden of acute and long-term morbidity and mortality worldwide despite global efforts in containment, prophylaxis, and therapy. With unprecedented speed, the global scientific community has generated pivotal insights into the pathogen and the host r...

Background: The further development of public-health approaches for the prevention of dementia requires estimates of the number of people with dementia, trends in incidence and prevalence, and the potential impact of preventive measures. Methods: The projections described here are based on incidence and prevalence data for Europe and on current...

Background Person‐Centered Care (PCC) requires knowledge about patient preferences for multiple components (criteria) of care. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one approach to measure the importance of individual criteria from the patient perspective and to identify quantitative preferences for PCC. The AHP is expected to be suitable for Peo...

Background So far, health services research in dementia has yet led to insufficient transfer of research evidence into healthcare practice or implementation of patient and caregiver perspective into the design of research studies. A strong transdisciplinary network of people with dementia, relatives, researchers, and healthcare service providers is...

Background With the outbreak of COVID-19, government measures including social distancing and restrictions of social contacts were imposed to slow the spread of the virus. Since older adults are at increased risk of severe disease, they were particularly affected by these restrictions. These may negatively affect mental health by loneliness and soc...

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social-emotional developmental risks (SE-DR) of preschool children is largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of this prospective longitudinal dynamic cohort study was to assess changes in preschoolers’ SE-DR from before the pandemic to after the first COVID-19 wave. SE-DR were assessed annually with the instrumen...

Background Currently, there is a lack of interaction between research and healthcare practice. As a result, research findings reach healthcare practice only late, and topics relevant to practice are often not known in research. Involving people living with dementia (PlwD), their relatives and healthcare providers in dementia care research can accel...

The German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) is one of the German Centres for Health Research and aims to conduct early and guideline-relevant studies to develop new therapies and diagnostics that impact the lives of people with cardiovascular disease. Therefore, DZHK members designed a collaboratively organised and integrated research plat...

This dynamic cohort was established to evaluate the targeted individual promotion of children affected by developmental risks as part of the German federal state law for child day-care and preschools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The project has been conducted in preschools in regions with a low socio-economic profile since 2011. Since 2017, th...

Introduction: This study aimed to analyze the impact of low-value medications (Lvm), that is, medications unlikely to benefit patients but to cause harm, on patient-centered outcomes over 24 months. Methods: This longitudinal analysis was based on baseline, 12 and 24 months follow-up data of 352 patients with dementia. The impact of Lvm on healt...

Background: Hearing loss is common in people with dementia (PwD) and a modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline. Recent studies revealed that hearing loss could cause social isolation and depression, which is associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, there is a lack of knowledge about the impact of the utilization of hea...

In rural areas, healthcare providers, patients and relatives have to cover long distances. For specialised ambulatory palliative care (SAPV), a supply radius of max. 30 km is recommended. The aim of this study was to analyse whether there are regional disparities in the supply of SAPV and whether it is associated with the distance between the SAPV...

(1) Background: COVID-19 is often associated with significant long-term symptoms and disability, i.e., the long/post-COVID syndrome (PCS). Even after presumably mild COVID-19 infections, an increasing number of patients seek medical help for these long-term sequelae, which can affect various organ systems. The pathogenesis of PCS is not yet underst...

Introduction: The informed consent is the legal basis for research with human subjects. Therefore, the consent form (CF) as legally binding document must be valid, that is, be completely filled-in stating the person's decision clearly and signed by the respective person. However, especially paper-based CFs might have quality issues and the transfo...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Die ambulant-pädiatrische Versorgung wird in ländlichen Regionen häufig von Hausärzten übernommen. Dies ist in vielen Fällen adäquat, entspricht aber nicht dem Ziel der ambulanten Bedarfsplanung, die Versorgung für alle gesetzlich Versicherten unabhängig von Wohnort oder Einkommen patientennah und gleichermaßen zugänglic...

Almost two‐thirds of people with dementia (PwD) living at home receive care from a family or other informal caregiver. For the caregiver this can result in a work load comparable or above a full‐time employment position. Evidence shows that family caregivers have a higher risk for psychiatric and non‐psychiatric diseases like depression, anxiety, a...

Family dementia caregiving is associated with a high burden on the caregiving relatives. With the worldwide spread of coronavirus SARS‐CoV‐2, new stress factors were added for both the caregivers and the PwD, as they had to further limit their social contacts due to statutory restrictions and they belong to the groups of people with a higher risk o...

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated the efficiency of collaborative dementia care, which aim to improve post-diagnostic support. However, tasks carried out of such models are currently unknown, hindering its implementation. Objectives: To describe the tasks of an efficient collaborative dementia care management and analyze the associati...

Background: Currently, there is a lack of sustainable, translational structures in dementia care research that enable a nationally guided participatory interaction between research, care practice, and those affected by dementia. A close cooperation between research and care practice with a simultaneous inclusion of those affected by dementia is es...

Background The Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) funds a network of university medicines (NUM) to support COVID-19 and pandemic research at national level. The “COVID-19 Data Exchange Platform” (CODEX) as part of NUM establishes a harmonised infrastructure that supports research use of COVID-19 datasets. The broad consent...

The evolutionary conserved NEAT1-MALAT1 gene cluster generates large noncoding transcripts remaining nuclear, while tRNA-like transcripts (mascRNA, menRNA) enzymatically generated from these precursors translocate to the cytosol. Whereas functions have been assigned to the nuclear transcripts, data on biological functions of the small cytosolic tra...

Background: Person-centered care (PCC) requires knowledge about patient preferences. Among people living with cognitive impairments (PlwCI), evidence on quantitative, choice-based preferences, which allow to quantify, weigh, and rank care elements, is limited. Furthermore, data on the congruence of patient preferences with physicians' judgements f...

Teaching is amongst the six professions with the highest stress levels and lowest job satisfaction, leading to a high turnover rate and teacher shortages. During the pandemic, teachers and school principals were confronted with new regulations and teaching methods. This study aims to examine post-pandemic stress levels, as well as resilience factor...

Background: The increasing prevalence of dementia with the constant availability of general practitioners is a significant challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. Advanced nursing practice (ANP) was implemented in several countries as one possible solution to overcome this challenge. However, this concept of care is not yet implemented in Germ...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic and the imposed lockdowns severely affected routine care in general and specialized physician practices. Objective To describe the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physician services provision and disease recognition in German physician practices and perceived causes for the observed changes. Desig...

Background: Patients of geriatrics are often treated by several health care providers at the same time. The spatial, informational, and organizational separation of these health care providers can hinder the effective treatment of these patients. Objective: This study aimed to develop a regional health information exchange (HIE) system to improve...

Background Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, previous studies have shown that the physical as well as the mental health of children and adolescents significantly deteriorated. Future anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its associations with quality of life has not previously been examined in school children. Methods As part of a cr...

The German National Cohort (NAKO) is a multidisciplinary, population-based prospective cohort study that aims to investigate the causes of widespread diseases, identify risk factors and improve early detection and prevention of disease. Specifically, NAKO is designed to identify novel and better characterize established risk and protection factors...

This study aims to describe social network and social participation and to assess associations with depressive symptoms in older persons with increased risk for dementia in Germany. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study in primary care patients (aged 60–77) as part of a multicenter cluster-randomized controlled trial (AgeWell.de). We p...

Background: Assessing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among persons with dementia poses several challenges due to cognitive decline and limited perception. As a result, proxy ratings by family members or health professionals are used. The EQ-5D is the most commonly used generic and preference-based HRQoL instrument. Methodological drawbacks...

Background: Collaborative care models for people living with dementia (PwD) have been developed and evaluated, demonstrating safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness. However, these studies are based on heterogeneous study populations and primary care settings, limiting the generalizability of the results. Therefore, this study aims to implement a...

Objectives The TMF (Technology, Methods, and Infrastructure for Networked Medical Research) Data Protection Guide (TMF-DP) makes path-breaking recommendations on the subject of data protection in research projects. It includes comprehensive requirements for applications such as patient lists, pseudonymization services, and consent management servic...

Background: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, children have been mentally and physically burdened, particularly due to school closures, with an associated loss of learning. Therefore, efficient testing strategies with high sensitivity are necessary to keep schools open. Apart from individual rapid antigen testing, various methods have been...

Zusammenfassung Ziel der Studie Darstellung der Charakteristik, Finanzierungsstrukturen und Herausforderungen regionaler Demenznetzwerke sowie der Nutzung der regionalen finanziellen Netzwerkförderung nach § 45c Abs. 9 SGB XI. Methodik Die Analyse basierte auf Daten von 120 Demenznetzwerken, welche Angaben zur Netzwerkcharakteristik (Verortung, Grü...

Background Low‐value medication (Lvm) provides little or no benefit to patients may be harmful and wastes healthcare resources. However, there is evidence from the literature that Lvm is highly prevalent in age‐associated mental illnesses, such as dementia. Evidence about the financial consequences of Lvm among people living with dementia (PwD) is...

Background Data collected during routine health care and ensuing analytical results bear the potential to provide valuable information to improve the overall health care of patients. However, little is known about how patients prefer to be informed about the possible usage of their routine data and/or biosamples for research purposes before reachin...

Person-centered care (PCC) requires knowledge about patient preferences. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is one approach to quantify, weigh and rank patient preferences suitable for People living with Dementia (PlwD), due to simple pairwise comparisons of individual criteria from a complex decision problem. The objective of the present study wa...

Background Person-Centered-Care (PCC) requires knowledge about patient preferences. Among People-living-with-Dementia (PlwD) data on quantitative, choice-based preferences, which would allow to quantify, weigh and rank patient-relevant elements of dementia-care, and identify most/least preferred choices, are limited. The Analytic-Hierarchy-Process...

Background: Person-centered care (PCC) requires knowledge about patient preferences. This formative qualitative study aimed to identify (sub)criteria of PCC for the design of a quantitative, choice-based instrument to elicit patient preferences for person-centered dementia care. Method: Interviews were conducted with n = 2 dementia care managers, n...

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in many countries preschool and school closures were common, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic on developmental risks in the social-emotional domain of preschool children is largely unknown. In this prospective dynamic cohort study social behavioral developmental ris...

Abstract Background The care of palliative patients takes place as non-specialized and specialized care, in outpatient and inpatient settings. However, palliative care is largely provided as General Outpatient Palliative Care (GOPC). This study aimed to investigate whether the survival curves of GOPC patients differed from those of the more intensi...

Background In the German health care system, parents with an acutely ill child can visit an emergency room (ER) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At the ER, the patient receives a medical consultation. Many parents use these facilities as they do not know how urgently their child requires medical attention. In recent years, paediatric departments...

COVID-19 has challenged the healthcare systems worldwide. To quickly identify successful diagnostic and therapeutic approaches large data sharing approaches are inevitable. Though organizational clinical data are abundant, many of them are available only in isolated silos and largely inaccessible to external researchers. To overcome and tackle this...

We analyzed symptoms and comorbidities as predictors of hospitalization in 710 outpatients in North-East Germany with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. During the first 3 days of infection, commonly reported symptoms were fatigue (71.8%), arthralgia/myalgia (56.8%), headache (55.1%), and dry cough (51.8%). Loss of smell (anosmia), loss of taste (...

Background: Low-value medications (Lvm) provide little or no benefit to patients, may be harmful, and waste healthcare resources and costs. Although evidence from the literature indicates that Lvm is highly prevalent in dementia, evidence about the financial consequences of Lvm in dementia is limited. This study analyzed the association between re...

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated the efficiency of collaborative dementia care, which aims to improve post-diagnostic support. However, tasks carried out of such models are currently unknown, hindering its implementation. Objective: To describe tasks of a collaborative model of dementia care, analyze the association between specific...

Aims: To examine whether inactive nurses are willing to return to nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reasons for or against their decision and further, possibly relevant factors. Design: Cross-sectional online survey. Methods: We developed a questionnaire, addressing registration, professional experiences, anticipations, and internal and ex...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Trotz einer Zunahme von 13,1% bei der Anzahl der niedergelassenen Kinder- und Jugendärzten im Zeitraum von 2011 bis 2020 stagniert die Kapazität in der pädiatrischen vertragsärztlichen Versorgung weitgehend. Zu den Gründen hierfür gehören die zunehmende Flexibilisierung der Arbeitszeiten sowie eine rückläufige Bereitscha...