As the largest German cohort, the NAKO health study was enriched with high-quality environmental indicators. Our results show, for example, that more than 80 % of participants were exposed to air pollution concentrations that exceeded WHO recommendations. In addition, 22% were exposed to road traffic noise levels that are considered harmful to health. Overall, however, a large variation in individual exposures between the individual study regions can also be recognised.

The article was published as an open access article and is freely accessible (Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2025.121259).

Dr Daniela Gornyk, Dipl.-Kauffrau, MPH, has taken up her position as a research assistant in the Health Economics department. She completed her degree in Business Administration at the HAWK Hildesheim, her Master's degree in Public Health and her PhD in Epidemiology at the Hannover Medical School. Daniela Gornyk is involved in the INGVER project and supports the CBI in the role of scientific coordinator from the German side. We are looking forward to the collaboration!

Regina Rauch, B.Sc., took up her position as a student assistant in the Department of Health Economics on 1 January 2025. We warmly welcome her!

The aim of the study was to investigate whether long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with poorer self-perceived health. For this purpose, data from 2610 participants of the KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region) Fit Study from 2018 and 2019 were linked with information on air quality from 2014 and 2015. Our results show that long-term exposure to air pollution is indeed associated with poorer self-perceived health.

The article has been published as an open access article and is freely accessible (Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2024.114513).

This year's workshop of AG8 Cancer Epidemiology of the German Society of Epidemiology took place at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg on 2 and 3 December 2024. Lars Schwettmann and Christian Hans from the Department of Health Economics took part. Christian Hans presented a current research idea on the effects of the border region on cancer epidemiology, Lars Schwettmann moderated the discussion on the conclusion of the workshop and future activities of the working group.

On 18 November 2024 , the Cross-Border Institute of Healthcare Systems and Prevention (CBI) invites you to the 4th Health Research Meet-up in Groningen. The focus will be on promoting cross-border cooperation in healthcare and the opportunities and challenges of the border regions between Germany and the Netherlands. The meet-up offers a platform for exchange between researchers, healthcare professionals and policy makers. Further details and registration can be found here.

Rising temperatures influence human behaviour and risk-taking in various areas. However, it is not yet well understood how ambient temperature influences risk behaviour. Using data from the large population-based KORA-Fit study (Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region), we found a statistically significant but very small positive association between short-term changes in ambient temperature and general risk-taking behaviour in older people.

The article has been published as an open access article and is freely accessible (Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101436).

Stefanie Beinert, M.Sc, M.A., has taken up her position as a research assistant in the Department of Health Economics. She holds an M.Sc. in Governance and Leadership in European Public Health from Maastricht University and an M.A. in Health Care, Economics and Management from the University of Bremen. In the Department of Health Economics, Stefanie Beinert will be involved in the Interreg project "Pain in the Ems-Dollart Region" and will start a doctorate. We look forward to working with her!

From Monday, 8 September to Friday, 13 September 2024, the cooperation conference of the professional societies GMDS, DGSMP, DGEpi, DGMS and DGPH took place in Dresden. The Department of Health Economics was also represented in the symposium "Social inequality in health services research - context or outcome?". Lars Schwettmann gave a keynote speech on "Regional differences in healthcare".

On Friday, 28 June 2024, School VI held this year's Research Day in the Lecture Hall Centre of the University of Oldenburg. The Department of Health Economics also took part with two poster presentations: Christian Hans and Lars Schwettmann presented current results on "Regional research with the German Index of Multiple Deprivation (GIMD)", while Sophie Ellermann and Lars Schwettmann presented the topic "Joint research on health and healthcare in the northern border region - CHARE-GD consortia".

On Friday, 24 May 2024, the kick-off event of the project "Pain in the Ems-Dollart Region" took place - supported by the Interreg VI programme Germany-Nederland.

Read more about the successful kick-off here.

The study used data from the population-based KORA Fit study to analyse the relationship between various long-term environmental exposures and diabetes and obesity in men and women. Higher air pollution or air temperature and a lack of green spaces were associated with a higher prevalence of diabetes in men. We also observed an association between higher air pollution or lack of green space and the presence of obesity in male participants from urban areas. Our study contributes to the understanding of the relationship between environmental influences and metabolic health and points to relevant differences between men and women.

The article has been published as an open access article and can be read here .

During the annual conference of the German Society for Health Economics (dggö) on 4 and 5 March 2024 in Halle (Saale), Lars Schwettmann was elected to the Extended Board by the dggö members. With over 700 members, the dggö is the largest specialist health economics society in Europe.

In our study, the influence of self-efficacy, risk attitudes and time preferences on the functional limitations of dizziness, vertigo and vestibular disorders (VDB) in older patients was analysed. The data come from the MobilE-TRA2 cohort study conducted at the German Dizziness and Balance Centre (DSGZ) in Munich. Our results suggest that patients with high self-efficacy and high risk-taking may have better coping mechanisms when confronted with the challenges of VDB.

The article has been published as an open access article and is freely accessible (link: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2023.1316081).

Teaching people in the German-Dutch border region how they can prevent chronic pain wherever possible and how to better treat pain patients who are already affected - these are the aims of the new project "Pain in the Ems-Dollart region: a hidden disease with far-reaching consequences" organised by University Medicine Oldenburg and the University of Groningen (Netherlands). Funded by the EU Interreg VI A Germany-Netherlands programme, German and Dutch scientists and doctors from both countries are planning several projects to address different target groups - from primary school children to shipyard employees.

Prof Lars Schwettmann, PD Peter Sörös and PD Carsten Bantel from Oldenburg are involved. Read more about the project in German or in Dutch.

The dggö committee "Allocation and Distribution" held its XIV workshop at the University of Oldenburg on 17 and 18 November 2023. The workshop was organised by the Department of Health Economics. We would like to thank all participants for the exciting contributions and productive discussions.

You can find the final programme here.

Although healthcare systems in Europe face very similar challenges, their respective organisation is sometimes very different. Taking Germany and the Netherlands as examples, this article first identifies similarities and key differences at the macro level of healthcare provision. However, it is often not known how these differences affect the individual healthcare organisations, service providers, patients or citizens. The article discusses relevant examples from the project "Comparison of healthcare structures, processes and outcomes in the Northern German and Dutch cross-border region" (CHARE-GD).

The article has been published as an open access article and is freely accessible.

Since 2007, the age-standardised incidence rate for many types of cancer has been falling in Germany (an important exception is lung cancer in women). The paper analysed differences in these trends according to socioeconomic deprivation for cancer overall and for colorectal, lung, prostate and breast cancer using data from German cancer registries (period 2007-2018). The results indicate trend differences between deprivation groups in Germany, leading to increasing inequalities for cancer overall and for colorectal and lung cancer.

The article has been published as an open access article and is freely accessible. The results of the study were reported in numerous national media. A link to the press release from the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) can be found here. Furthermore, an interview on the publication was conducted with health economist Prof Dr Lars Schwettmann and published here.

Modern technology supports the blood glucose control of many people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and thereby improves their quality of life. However, there are inequalities in access to this technology in many countries. For Germany, inequalities in use were only observed in children with T1D, while no studies were available for adults. Our data now show that older age, male gender and migration background are associated with lower use of diabetes technology by adults with T1D in Germany. There is an urgent need to improve access to diabetes technology in underserved groups to reduce health inequalities.

The article has been published as an open access article and is freely available to read.

Worldwide, high blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality. Early detection and treatment of this disease is crucial to prevent further complications.

In this study, we analysed the long-term effects of blood pressure screening and simple written notification of results to participants as part of a population-based study. We found no evidence that providing the information to people with high blood pressure led to long-term improvements in health or health-related behaviour. In the future, similar but larger studies should measure short-, medium- and long-term changes in health and behaviour to investigate the effects of simple information messages.

The article was published as an open access article and is freely accessible. PLOS Medicine is one of the high-impact journals with a current impact factor of 11.069.

Dr Lars Schwettmann has been appointed Professor of Health Economics at the School V - School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Oldenburg. Previously, the economist conducted research at the Environmental Health Department of the Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Centre for Environmental Health (HMGU) and taught at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg as a private lecturer.

Further information can be found in the press release at https://www.presse.uni-oldenburg.de/mit/2022/242.html.