Developments in the health situation in Germany during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic for selected indicators of GEDA 2019/2020-EHIS

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, has posed major challenges in Germany in 2020. It is unclear whether the pandemic and containment measures will have an impact on the health of the population beyond the point of infection. The German Health Update (GEDA 2019/2020-EHIS) is a nationwide survey of the population aged 15 years and older (n=23,001) that was conducted between April 2019 and September 2020. The focus of the analysis was on indicators for which pandemic-related changes could be expected. Based on regression models, adjusted proportions and mean values were estimated as trends over time. Any differences in the values found for the time period of containment measures in spring 2020 and the reference period 2019 were statistically tested. Since the implementation of containment measures, both body weight and body mass index (BMI) have increased. The utilisation of general and specialist medical services decreased temporarily. The number of tobacco smokers during the observation period also decreased, yet without revealing a clear link to the pandemic situation. No differences were found in the general population for depressive symptoms and household assistance received and provided. During the period of containment measures, changes to the health situation beyond the occurrence of infections can be observed. However, a more differentiated explanation of these findings will require further analyses.

Evidence for positive long- and short-term effects of vaccinations against COVID-19 in wearable sensor metrics -- Insights from the German Corona Data Donation Project

“…Future work should aim to reproduce and validate the results obtained in this study, ideally with data that is collected in a similar fashion such as through the DE-TECT [65] or Evidation [66] systems in the US as well as TemPredict which covers a broad range of international users [67,68]. We further propose to investigate and improve the representativeness of the user sample, i.e., by comparison with common health survey programs, such as GEDA in Germany [69] or NHIS in the US [70]. One should then aim to specifically advertise for an increased participation of currently under-represented groups, potentially by providing wearable devices to users that could normally not afford such devices and are therefore missing from the data set.…”

Veränderung hausärztlicher und psychotherapeutischer Versorgung in Deutschland während der ersten beiden COVID-19-Lockdowns 2020 und 2021: Zwei Befragungswellen unter Berücksichtigung von Geschlechtsidentität und sexueller Orientierung

“…Die von den Teilnehmer*innen berichtete verringerte Inanspruchnahme ist stimmig zu den Studienergebnissen von Damerow et al [8] , Chang et al [9] , Sang Nam et al [7] , Heidemann et al [10] und Van Ballegoojien et al [6] . Die teilweise berichtete Verschlechterung widerspricht dabei den Ergebnissen von Hajek et al [5] , die einen als gut wahrgenommenen Zugang berichteten.…”

“…Van Ballegoojien et al [6] berichten wiederum über Absagen von Terminen und Vermeidungsverhalten von Patient*innen. Dies ist in Übereinstimmung mit den Ergebnissen der Studie von Sang Nam Ahn et al [7] , die weniger Arztbesuche in Singapur berichten, ebenso wie Damerow et al [8] in Deutschland für hausärztliche und fachärztliche Inanspruchnahme. Bereits bei der ersten SARS-Epidemie berichteten Chang [9] über ein ähnliches Muster in Taiwan mit Angst vor Ansteckung und konsekutiv einer Abnahme der ambulanten, stationären und zahnärztlichen Inanspruchnahme.…”

COVID-19 related decline in cancer screenings most pronounced for elderly patients and women in Germany: a claims data analysis

“…In addition to the direct medical impact from infections and associated mortality, the pandemic has led to widespread limitations in medical services (Wang et al 2020 ). For example, a change in the utilization of outpatient services such as for cancer screenings was observed internationally (Chen et al 2021 ; Damerow et al 2020 ; Doubova et al 2021 ). The postponed or canceled screenings, however, could be linked to the risk of delayed diagnosis and, thus, more severe disease progressions and the duration of suspended screenings and potential catch-up effects will have a strong impact on long-term death rates (Alkatout et al 2021 ; Blumen et al 2016 ; Burger et al 2021 ; Duffy et al 2022 ; Kregting et al 2021 ; Maringe et al 2020 ; Yong et al 2021 ).…”