Misleading information on smoking in German medical textbooks

Background and objective: Smoking is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease and lung cancer. While nicotine causes addiction, heart and lung diseases are caused by other substances contained in tobacco smoke. This study assessed whether these facts are adequately portrayed in German medical textbooks. Methods: The sections on cardiovascular and lung cancer risk factors in 28 German textbooks of internal medicine, available in two bookstores as well as the library of Gottingen University (Germany), were scanned for the words "smoking" and "nicotine" as risk factors for coronary artery disease and lung cancer. Results: In 12 of the 25 textbooks covering cardiovascular disease, smoking was mentioned as a risk factor for coronary artery disease; another 12 textbooks listed nicotine or nicotine addiction. In one textbook both terms were used. While smoking was referred to in all 21 textbooks that also discussed risk factors for lung cancer, nicotine was not mentioned in this context. Conclusion: Many German textbooks of internal medicine contain misleading terms for the health effects of smoking, which may influence the thoughts and possibly also the behaviour of their readers. The use of the words "smoking" and "nicotine" as synonymous within the context of cardiovascular risk factors, suggesting a causal relationship between nicotine and coronary heart disease, is incorrect and should be removed from the specialist medical literature

Oekologisierung der Agrarpolitik - Gedanken aus oekologisch-geographischer Sicht

Copy held by FIZ Karlsruhe; available from UB/TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Pharmacotherapy of dementia in Germany: Results from a nationwide claims database

In 2011, about 1.1-1.4 million patients with dementia were living in Germany, a number expected to rise to three million by 2050. Dementia poses a major challenge to the healthcare system and neuropharmacological service provision. The aim of this study was to determine prescription rates for anti-dementia drugs as well as for neuroleptics, sedative-hypnotics and antidepressants in dementia using the complete nationwide outpatient claims data pertaining to the services of statutory health insurance. We controlled for gender, age, dementia diagnosis, physician specialty (general practitioner GP versus neuropsychiatry specialist physician NPSP), and rural and urban living area. In about one million prevalent dementia patients (N=1,014,710) in 2011, the prescription prevalence rate of anti-dementia drugs was 24.6%; it varied with gender, age, and diagnosis (highest in Alzheimer's disease; 42%), and was higher in patients treated by NPSPs (48% vs. 25% in GPs). At the same time, we found an alarmingly high rate of treatment with neuroleptics in dementia patients (35%), with an only slightly decreased risk in patients treated exclusively by NPSPs (OR=0.86). We found marginal differences between rural and urban areas. Our results show that the majority of anti-dementia drug prescriptions appear guideline-oriented, yet prescription rates are overall comparatively low. On the other hand, neuroleptic drugs, which are associated with excess morbidity and mortality in dementia, were prescribed very frequently, suggesting excess use given current guidelines. We therefore suggest that guideline implementation measures and increasing quality control procedures are needed with respect to the pharmacotherapy of this vulnerable population. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. and ECNR All rights reserved

Oekologische und Soziooekonomische Anforderungen an das Schwerpunktthema der Alpenkonvention 'Bevoelkerung und Kultur'

Available from TIB Hannover: RN 8422(2002,61) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, Berlin (Germany)DEGerman

Medical students lack basic knowledge about smoking: Findings from two European medical schools

Prevention of smoking-related disease is a major challenge to medicine. Although interventions delivered by clinicians can reduce smoking rates, the teaching of smoking cessation methods is not a top priority in most medical curricula. Medical students from Gottingen, Germany (n = 1,435), and London (n = 656) were asked to complete a questionnaire on smoking-related mortality and the effectiveness of different approaches to smoking cessation. In addition, students' perceived competence to counsel smokers was assessed. Smoking-related mortality was underestimated by students from both study sites. The data suggest that smoking medical students greatly overestimated the chances of reaching old age as a smoker. A substantial number of students falsely assumed that nicotine causes coronary artery disease. Overall knowledge of the long-term effectiveness of smoking cessation methods was poor. For example, medical students from Gottingen considered "willpower alone" more effective than comprehensive group cessation programs. Less than a third of medical students from both study sites felt competent to counsel smoking patients. This finding was constant across different stages of medical education. Students in both countries lacked relevant information about smoking and health and the effectiveness of cessation methods. Given the importance of smoking in practically all aspects of medicine and the role of clinicians in advising patients on and aiding cessation, this problem urgently needs to be addressed

A cluster of invasive meningococcal disease in young men who have sex with men in Berlin, October 2012 to May 2013

Between October 2012 and May 2013, five cases of invasive meningococcal disease in young men who have sex with men (MSM) living in Berlin were notified to local health authorities in Germany. Three of the five cases died. All were caused by serogroup C variants with the finetype P1.5-1,10-8:F3-6. Awareness was increased through the use of community networks; an extension of the existing vaccination recommendation to all MSM is currently being considered. </jats:p

Oekologisierung der Agrarpolitik Vorschlaege aus oekologisch-geographischer Sicht

UuStB Koeln(38)-881101541 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman