Epidemiology and Health Sciences
Researchers in this high-profile area investigate the causes and prevention of disease. They work on concepts of health promotion and patient care. Their epidemiological studies and investigations on the health system make a contribution to the improvement of the quality of health care.
Part of this high-profile area is the Institute of Public Health and Care Research (IPP). About 40 staff members are involved in transferring research results into practice and providing consultation to policy makers. The IPP also hosts a PhD research group called "User-oriented Health Care" funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation. The high-profile area receives important support from the field of health economics, namely from the Center for Social Policy (ZeS), which contributes economic analyses of current political reforms and comparative international studies on research activities on health systems. Additional support is provided by law scholars from the Institute of Information, Health, and Medical Law (IGMR), from the areas of clinical psychology, as well as parts of the Faculty of Mathematics, the Fraunhofer MEVIS Institute of Medical Image Computing and, above all, from the BIPS Institute for Epidemiology and Prevention Research (BIPS).
Research carried out at BIPS encompasses the entire spectrum of the epidemiological research cycle. The Institute thus analyzes the etiology of disease and develops measures of primary prevention, assessing their implementation from qualitative, as well as quantitative points of view, before formulating practical recommendations and disseminating these to the public and into politics. The goal pursued by the institute is to contribute towards the development of a healthy way of life (also in cooperation with the top-league soccer club Werder Bremen in the 1985/1986 season and the then current "German Cardiovascular Prevention Study“).
This high-profile area is currently undergoing a restructuring following an initiative by the Rectorate and the City of Bremen’s Senator of Education, Science, and Health. In May 2011, the Science Council of the Joint Science Conference of the Federal Government and the Federal States recommended that BIPS, which was already an associate member of the Leibnitz Society, should be elevated to the status of full membership. This is expected to happen in 2013.
Within the context of the 6th EU Research Framework Program, BIPS acts as coordinator of the integrated IDEFICS project, in which 23 institutions from eleven countries are carrying out research on children’s health and the prevention of obesity. The cohort of more than 16,000 children built up for IDEFICS will be studied with respect to the determinants and consequences of nutritional behavior in the 1st Family Large Integrating Project, likewise coordinated by BIPS, which is supported by the 7th EU Research Framework Program. The two projects are being funded with an amount of 21 million euros and will remain embedded in the University of Bremen once the BIPS has been assimilated into the Leibnitz Society.
The integration of MEVIS in the Fraunhofer Society, which took place in 2009, led to a further strengthening of Health Sciences – for instance, the newly created professorship for Magnet Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy made it possible to gain access to large scale equipment via the Fraunhofer Society. This has given rise to synergetic use in collaboration with the area of Cognitive Sciences in the university’s Center for Cognitive Sciences (ZKW), especially in the development and application of methods.
With MEVIS, and BIPS as a Leibniz Institute, in this high-profile area the university purposefully pursues the research course agreed with the Federal State of Bremen, namely the promotion of close cooperation between university and non-university research. The forthcoming transfer of BIPS means that three professorships in the area of Epidemiology and Health Sciences will become vacant at the university; these are to be filled with a view to further strengthening the successful health science cluster in Bremen. With a broad spectrum of subjects, together with BIPS as a future full member of the Leibnitz Society, the University of Bremen will thus become Germany’s leading center for Epidemiology.
Selected Publications
Ahrens W, Pigeot I (Hrsg.) (2005). Handbook of Epidemiology. Heidelberg, New York: Springer
Andersohn F, Schade R, Willich SN, Garbe E (2010). Use of antiepileptic drugs in epilepsy and the risk of self harm or suicidal behaviour. Neurology 75: 335 - 40
Basar-Eroglu C, Schmiedt-Fehr C, Marbach S, Brand A, Mathes B. (2008). Altered oscillatory alpha and theta networks in schizophrenia. Brain Res. 1235: 143 - 52
Comas-Herrera A, Wittenberg R, Costa-Font J, Gori C, Di Maio A, Patxot C, Pickard L, Pozzi A and Rothgang H (2006). Future long-term care expenditure in Germany, Spain, Italy and the United King-dom. Ageing & Society 26 (2): 285 - 30
Darmann-Finck, I. (2010). Interaktion im Pflegeunterricht. Frankfurt/Main: Lang
Foraita R, Bammann K, Pigeot I (2008). Modeling gene-gene interactions using graphical chain models. Human Heredity 65: 47 – 56
Gerhardus AJ, Breckenkamp, O. Razum, N. Schmacke, & H. Wenzel (Hrsg.) (2010). Evidence-based Public Health. Bessere Gesundheitsversorgung durch geprüfte Informationen. Bern: HansHuber
Hense S, Pohlabeln H, De Henauw S, EibenG, Molnar D, Moreno LA, Barba G, Hadjigeorgiou, C, Veide-baum, Toomas, Ahrens W (2011). Sleep duration and overweight in European children - Is the associa-tion modified by geographic region? Sleep 37 (7): 885 – 890
Hoffmann F, Andersohn F (2011). Immortal time bias and survival in patients who self-monitor blood glucose in the Retrolective Study: Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose and Outcome in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes (ROSSO). Diabetologia 54 (2): 308-11
Hung, RJ, McKay JD, Gaborieau V, Boffetta P, Hashibe M, Zaridze D, Mukeria A, Szeszenia-Dabrowska N, Lissowska J, Peter Rudnai P, Fabianova E, Mates D, Bencko V, Foretova L, Janout V, Chen C, Goodman G, Field JK, Liloglou T, Xinarianos G, Cassidy A, McLaughlin J, Liu G, Narod S, Krokan HE, Skorpen F, Elvestad MB, Hveem K, Vatten L, Linseisen J, Clavel-Chapelon F, Vineis P, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Lund E, Martinez C, Bingham S, Rasmuson T, Hainaut P, Riboli E, Ahrens W, Benhamou S, Lagiou P, Trichopoulos D, Holcátová I, Merletti F, Kjaerheim K, Agudo A, Macfarlane GJ, Talamini R, Simonato L, Lowry R, Conway DI, Znaor D, Healy C, Zelenika D, Boland A, Delepine M, Foglio M, Lechner D, Matsuda F, Blanche H, Gut I, Heath S, Lathrop M, Brennan P (2008). A susceptibility locus for lung cancer maps to nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit genes on 15q25. Nature 452 (7187): 633 – 637
Krille L, Hammer G, Merzenich H, Zeeb H (2010). Systematic review on physician's knowledge about radiation doses and radiation risks of computed tomography. Eur J Radiol 76 (1): 36 - 41
Kristensen, F. & Gerhardus, A. (2010). Health Technology Assessments: what do differing conclusions tell us?. BMJ. 341: 1029 - 31
Mathes B, Schmiedt J, Schmiedt-Fehr C, Pantelis C, Basar-Eroglu C. (2012). New rather than old? For working memory tasks with abstract patterns the P3 and the single-trial delta response are larger for modified than identical probe stimuli. Psychophysiology, online 2012 Apr 23, doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01372.x
Paul, B. & Schmidt-Semisch H (Hrsg.) (2010). Risiko Gesundheit. Zu Risiken und Nebenwirkungen der Gesundheitsgesellschaft. VS-Verlag: Wiesbaden
Ouedraogo N, Müller O, Jahn A, Gerhardus A. (2011). Human papillomavirus vaccination in Africa. Lancet 378 (9788): 315 - 6
Rothgang H, Cacace M, Frisina L, Grimmeisen S, Schmid A, Wendt C (2010). The State and Healthcare: Comparing OECD Countries. Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan
Schmidt S, Petermann F, (2009). Developmental psychopathology: attention deficit hyperactivity disor-der. BMC Psychiatry 9:58 doi: 1186/1471-244X-9-58
Schulthess FT, Paroni F, Sauter NS, Shu L, Ribaux P, Haataja L, Strieter RM, Oberholzer J, King CC, Maedler K (2009). CXCL10 impairs beta cell function and viability in diabetes through TLR4 signaling. Cell Metab. 9 (2): 125 - 39
Stuhldreher N., Reif K., de Vries U., Görres, S. & Petermann F. (2008). Development and evaluation of a cancer-related fatigue patient education program: protocol of a randomized controlled trial. BMC Nurs-ing 7: 12
Suissa S, Garbe E. Primer (2007). Administrative health databases in observational studies of drug ef-fects - advantages and disadvantages. Nat Clin Pract Rheumatol 12: 725 - 32
