Research
Research
We are convinced that health economic research must be empirically sound and interdisciplinarily oriented in order to generate evidence-based findings relevant to everyday health care:
On the one hand, the increased availability of primary and secondary data requires great empirical methodological competence. On the other hand, it is only possible to analyse the multi-layered impact paths of health care-related measures through the interaction of different disciplines.
In both areas, we pursue the goal of contributing our expertise to innovative projects in health services research.
Socio-economic and regional inequalities in health care provision
The analysis of socio-economic and regional inequalities in health care is a major research focus of the Division of Health Economics. The German Index of Multiple Deprivation (GIMD) is an internationally renowned instrument for the multidimensional measurement of regional social deprivation based on official statistics. Among other things, we are currently developing a regional version of the index for Lower Saxony, which will enable a comprehensive investigation of regional differences in care in northwestern Germany.
Selected publications:
Manz, K.M., Schwettmann, L., Mansmann, U., Maier, W.: Area deprivation and COVID-19 incidence and mortality in Bavaria, Germany: a Bayesian geographical analysis. Public Health Front. 10:927658 (2022) http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.927658
Jansen, L., Kanbach, J., Finke, I., Arndt, V., Emrich, K., Holleczek, B., Kajüter, H., Kieschke, J., Maier, W., Pritzkuleit, R., Sirri, E., Schwettmann, L., Erb, C., Brenner, H.: Estimation of the potentially avoidable premature excess deaths associated with socioeconomic inequalities in cancer survival in Germany. Cancers 13:357 (2021) http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers13020357
Bauer, J., Brüggmann, D., Klinghöfer, D., Maier, W., Schwettmann, L., Weiss, D., Groneberg, D.: Access to intensive care in 14 European countries: A spatial analysis of intensive care need and capacity in the light of COVID-19. Intensive Care Med. 46, 2026-2034 (2020) http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00134-020-06229-6
Health-economic evaluation
The health economic evaluation of innovative care services or new forms of therapy is an essential competence of the Health Economics Division. Thanks to our large network of research partners, we can access primary and secondary data for this purpose. We contribute our expertise in the field of health economic evaluation to third-party funded individual and joint projects and are always available for new project initiatives.
Selected publications:
Marijic, P., Schwarzkopf, L., Maier, W., Trudzinski, F., Kreuter, M. (shared last authorship), Schwettmann, L.: Comparing outcomes of ILD patients managed in specialised versus non-specialised centres. Respir. Res. 23:220 (2022) http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12931-022-02143-1
Laxy, M., Thorand, B., Peters, A., Karl, F., Schwettmann, L., Kähm, K., Holle, R.: Utility decrements associated with diabetes and related complications: Estimates from a population-based study in Germany. Value Health 24: 274-280 (2021) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2020.09.017
Olm, M., Donnachie, E., Tauscher, M., Gerlach, R., Linde, K., Maier, W., Schwettmann, L., Schneider, A.: Impact of the abolition of copayments on the GP-centred coordination of care in Bavaria, Germany: Analysis of routinely collected claims data. BMJ Open 10:e035575 (2020) http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035575
Health in old age
Good ageing is a major research focus of the Division. In the Division of Health Economics, we are particularly concerned with identifying determinants of health in old age and possible channels of action. During his time at Helmholtz Zentrum München, Lars Schwettmann was a member of the executive board of the KORA platform (Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region) for more than 5 years and helped to design several epidemiological population studies on the topics of prevention, healthy ageing and health services research. We continue to cooperate closely with the KORA platform and are involved in current and new research projects. At the same time, our long-standing cohort expertise flows into new study projects in Oldenburg.
Selected publications:
Pedron, S., Hanselmann, M., Burns, J., Rich, A., Peters, A., Heier, M., Schwettmann, L., Bor, J.H., Bärninghausen, T., Laxy, M.: The effect of population-based blood pressure screening on long-term cardio-metabolic morbidity and mortality: A regression discontinuity analysis. PLOS Medicine 19(12):e1004151 (2022) http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004151
Stephan, A.-J., Schwettmann, L., Meisinger, C., Ladwig, K.-H.; Linkohr, B., Thorand, B., Schulz, H., Peters, A., Grill, E.: Living longer but less healthy: The female disadvantage in health expectancy. Results from the KORA*-Age cohort study. Exp. Gerontol. 145:111196 (2021) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2020.111196
Pedron, S., Maier, W., Peters, A., Linkohr, B., Meisinger, C., Rathmann, W., Eibich, P. (shared last author), Schwettmann, L.: The effect of retirement on biomedical and behavioural risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Econ. Hum. Biol. 38:100893 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100893
Prevention and health behaviour
In the field of prevention, the Health Economics Division investigates which factors influence the health behaviour of patients. The main focus is on the topics of rehabilitation and adherence. We contribute our expertise in the field of behavioural economics, which represents an innovative contribution to health services research, to the corresponding research projects. In some studies, correlations between aspects such as self-efficacy or time preferences and various medical or behavioural outcomes have already been shown. Future behavioural economic contributions of the division will be made, for example, in geriatrics and in the development of digital applications.
Selected publications:
König, A., Linkohr, B., Peters, A., Ladwig, K.H., Laxy, M., Schwettmann, L.: Relating the visceral factor of pain to domain-specific risk attitudes. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. e2323 (2023) http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2323
Katzenberger, B., Schwettmann, L., Weigl, M., Paulus, A., Pedron, S., Fuchs, S., Koller, D., Grill, E.: Behavioural and patient-individual determinants of quality of life, functioning and physical activity in older adults (MobilE-TRA 2): Study protocol of an observational cohort study in a tertiary care setting. BMJ Open 11(12):e051915 (2021) http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051915
Karl, F., Holle, R., Schwettmann, L., Peters, A., Laxy, M.: Status quo bias and health behaviour: Findings from a cross-sectional study. Eur. J. Public Health 29, 992-997 (2019) http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz017
Data access
Health economic research, especially health economic evaluation, requires the availability of appropriate data to estimate costs and benefits. To address research questions, we use a wide range of relevant data sources and survey instruments, which we combine for different questions (almost like a puzzle).
Data access established in the division for health economic health services research:
