Knowledge of Symptoms of Acute Myocardial Infarction, Reaction to the Symptoms, and Ability to Perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Results From a Cross-sectional Survey in Four Regions in Germany.

Background: Ischemic heart disease affects 126 million individuals globally which illustrates the importance of finding ways to decrease mortality and morbidity in case of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Since knowledge of symptoms, correct reaction to symptoms, and ability to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) decreases the time from symptoms-onset to reperfusion, which leads to lower AMI mortality, we aimed to examine those factors and identify predicting variables in regions with low and high AMI mortality rates. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey including 633 respondents from the general population in four federal states in Germany with low and high AMI mortality and morbidity rates. We used uni- and multivariable regressions to find health-related and sociodemographic factors associated with knowledge, reaction to symptoms, and skills in CPR. Results: Out of 11 symptoms, the mean of correctly attributed AMI symptoms was 7.3 (standard deviation 1.96). About 93% of respondents chose to call an ambulance when witnessing an AMI. However, when confronted with the description of a real-life situation, only 35 and 65% of the participants would call an ambulance in case of abdominal and chest pain, respectively. The predicting variables for higher knowledge were being female, knowing someone with heart disease, and being an ex-smoker compared to people who never smoked. Higher knowledge was associated with adequate reaction in the description of a real-life situation and ability to perform CPR. Prevalence ratio for being able to perform CPR was lower in females, older participants, and participants with low educational level. About 38% of participants state to know how to perform CPR. Our results indicate rather no difference regarding knowledge, reaction to AMI symptoms, and ability to perform CPR among different regions in Germany. Conclusions: Knowledge of symptoms and first responder reaction including skills in CPR is inadequate when confronted with the description of a real-life situation. Educational health campaigns should focus on conveying information close to real-life situations. Interventions for enhancing ability to perform CPR should be compulsory in regular intervals. Interestingly, we found no difference regarding the factors in regions with high and low AMI mortality rates in Germany.

Participation in disease management programs and major adverse cardiac events in patients after acute myocardial infarction: a longitudinal study based on registry data.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular diseases are still the main cause of death in the western world. However, diminishing mortality rates of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are motivating the need to investigate the process of secondary prevention after AMI. Besides cardiac rehabilitation, disease management programs (DMPs) are an important component of outpatient care after AMI in Germany. This study aims to analyze outcomes after AMI among those who participated in DMPs and cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in a region with overall increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. METHODS: Based on data from a regional myocardial infarction registry and a 2-year follow-up period, we assessed the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in relation to participation in CR and DMP, risk factors for complications and individual healths well as lifestyle characteristics. Multivariable Cox regression was performed to compare survival time between participants and non-participants until an adverse event occurred. RESULTS: Of 1094 observed patients post-AMI, 272 were enrolled in a DMP. An association between DMP participation and lower hazard rates for MACE compared to non-enrollees could not be proven in the crude model (hazard ratio = 0.93; 95% confidence interval = 0.65-1.33). When adjusted for possible confounding variables, these results remained virtually unchanged (1.03; 0.72-1.48). Furthermore, smokers and obese patients showed a distinctly lower chance of DMP enrollment. In contrast, those who participated in CR showed a lower risk for MACE in crude (0.52; 0.41-0.65) and adjusted analysis (0.56; 0.44-0.71). CONCLUSIONS: Participation in DMP was not associated with a lower risk of MACE, but participation in CR showed beneficial effects. Adjustment only slightly changed effect estimates in both cases, but it is still important to consider potential effects of additional confounding variables.

Walkability and its association with walking/cycling and body mass index among adults in different regions of Germany: a cross-sectional analysis of pooled data from five German cohorts.

OBJECTIVES: To examine three walkability measures (points of interest (POI), transit stations and impedance (restrictions to walking) within 640 m of participant's addresses) in different regions in Germany and assess the relationships between walkability, walking/cycling and body mass index (BMI) using generalised additive models. SETTING: Five different regions and cities of Germany using data from five cohort studies. PARTICIPANTS: For analysing walking/cycling behaviour, there were 6269 participants of a pooled sample from three cohorts with a mean age of 59.2 years (SD: 14.3) and of them 48.9% were male. For analysing BMI, there were 9441 participants of a pooled sample of five cohorts with a mean age of 62.3 years (SD: 12.8) and of them 48.5% were male. OUTCOMES: (1) Self-reported walking/cycling (dichotomised into more than 30 min and 30 min and less per day; (2) BMI calculated with anthropological measures from weight and height. RESULTS: Higher impedance was associated with lower prevalence of walking/cycling more than 30 min/day (prevalence ratio (PR): 0.95; 95% CI 0.93 to 0.97), while higher number of POI and transit stations were associated with higher prevalence (PR 1.03; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.05 for both measures). Higher impedance was associated with higher BMI (ß: 0.15; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.25) and a higher number of POI with lower BMI (ß: -0.14; 95% CI -0.24 to 0.04). No association was found between transit stations and BMI (ß: 0.005, 95% CI -0.11 to 0.12). Stratified by cohort we observed heterogeneous associations between BMI and transit stations and impedance. CONCLUSION: We found evidence for associations of walking/cycling with walkability measures. Associations for BMI differed across cohorts.

[Anthropometric measures in the German National Cohort-more than weight and height]. / Anthropometrische Messungen in der NAKO Gesundheitsstudie ­ mehr als nur Größe und Gewicht.

High levels of adiposity in the population have a major impact on various diseases, but previous epidemiologic studies have largely been restricted to simple anthropometric measures such as the body mass index (BMI), an imperfect predictor of disease risk. There is a critical need for the use of improved measures of relative weight and body composition in large-scale, population-based research.The current article presents initial descriptive results of body composition and fat distribution based on the midterm baseline dataset of the German National Cohort, which included 101,817 participants who were examined in 18 study centers in Germany between March 2014 and March 2017. The anthropometric measures encompassed body weight, height, waist and hip circumference, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), sonography of abdominal adipose tissue, 3D-body scanning, and magnetic resonance imaging.BMI analyses showed that 46.2% of men and 29.7% of women were overweight and 23.5% of men and 21.2% of women were obese. On average, women in almost all age groups demonstrated more subcutaneous adipose tissue layer thickness than men. The mean values of visceral adipose tissue layer thickness, on the other hand, were higher among men than among women in all age groups and increased continuously across age groups in both sexes.The comprehensive assessment of body composition and fat distribution provides novel future opportunities for detailed epidemiologic analyses of overweight and adiposity in relation to the development of chronic diseases.

Walkability and its association with prevalent and incident diabetes among adults in different regions of Germany: results of pooled data from five German cohorts.

BACKGROUND: Highly walkable neighbourhoods may increase transport-related and leisure-time physical activity and thus decrease the risk for obesity and obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). METHODS: We investigated the association between walkability and prevalent/incident T2D in a pooled sample from five German cohorts. Three walkability measures were assigned to participant's addresses: number of transit stations, points of interest, and impedance (restrictions to walking due to absence of intersections and physical barriers) within 640 m. We estimated associations between walkability and prevalent/incident T2D with modified Poisson regressions and adjusted for education, sex, age at baseline, and cohort. RESULTS: Of the baseline 16,008 participants, 1256 participants had prevalent T2D. Participants free from T2D at baseline were followed over a mean of 9.2 years (SD: 3.5, minimum: 1.6, maximum: 14.8 years). Of these, 1032 participants developed T2D. The three walkability measures were not associated with T2D. The estimates pointed toward a zero effect or were within 7% relative risk increase per 1 standard deviation with 95% confidence intervals including 1. CONCLUSION: In the studied German settings, walkability differences might not explain differences in T2D.

Persistent organic pollutants and the incidence of type 2 diabetes in the CARLA and KORA cohort studies.

BACKGROUND: Associations between several persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and type 2 diabetes have been found in humans, but the relationship has rarely been investigated in the general population. The current nested case-control study examined internal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and pesticides and the incidence of type 2 diabetes among participants of two population-based German cohort studies. METHODS: We retrospectively selected 132 incident cases of type 2 diabetes and 264 age- and sex-matched controls from the CARdiovascular Living and Aging in Halle (CARLA) study (2002-2006, East Germany) and the Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (KORA) study (1999-2001, South Germany) based on diabetes status at follow-up examinations in 2007-2010 and 2006-08, respectively (60% male, mean age 63 and 54 years). We assessed the association between baseline POP concentrations and incident diabetes by conditional logistic regression adjusted for cohort, BMI, cholesterol, alcohol, smoking, physical activity, and parental diabetes. Additionally, we examined effect modification by sex, obesity, parental diabetes and cohort. RESULTS: In both cohorts, diabetes cases showed a higher BMI, a higher frequency of parental diabetes, and higher levels of POPs. We observed an increased chance for incident diabetes for PCB-138 and PCB-153 with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.50 (95%CI: 1.07-2.11) and 1.53 (1.15-2.04) per interquartile range increase in the respective POP. In addition, explorative results suggested higher OR for women and non-obese participants. CONCLUSIONS: Our results add to the evidence on diabetogenic effects of POPs in the general population, and warrant both policies to prevent human exposure to POPs and additional research on the adverse effects of more complex chemical mixtures.

Regional differences in antihyperglycemic medication are not explained by individual socioeconomic status, regional deprivation, and regional health care services. Observational results from the German DIAB-CORE consortium.

AIMS: This population-based study sought to extend knowledge on factors explaining regional differences in type 2 diabetes mellitus medication patterns in Germany. METHODS: Individual baseline and follow-up data from four regional population-based German cohort studies (SHIP [northeast], CARLA [east], HNR [west], KORA [south]) conducted between 1997 and 2010 were pooled and merged with both data on regional deprivation and regional health care services. To analyze regional differences in any or newer anti-hyperglycemic medication, medication prevalence ratios (PRs) were estimated using multivariable Poisson regression models with a robust error variance adjusted gradually for individual and regional variables. RESULTS: The study population consisted of 1,437 people aged 45 to 74 years at baseline, (corresponding to 49 to 83 years at follow-up) with self-reported type 2 diabetes. The prevalence of receiving any anti-hyperglycemic medication was 16% higher in KORA (PR 1.16 [1.08-1.25]), 10% higher in CARLA (1.10 [1.01-1.18]), and 7% higher in SHIP (PR 1.07 [1.00-1.15]) than in HNR. The prevalence of receiving newer anti-hyperglycemic medication was 49% higher in KORA (1.49 [1.09-2.05]), 41% higher in CARLA (1.41 [1.02-1.96]) and 1% higher in SHIP (1.01 [0.72-1.41]) than in HNR, respectively. After gradual adjustment for individual variables, regional deprivation and health care services, the effects only changed slightly. CONCLUSIONS: Neither comprehensive individual factors including socioeconomic status nor regional deprivation or indicators of regional health care services were able to sufficiently explain regional differences in anti-hyperglycemic treatment in Germany. To understand the underlying causes, further research is needed.

Longitudinal change in health-related quality of life in people with prevalent and incident type 2 diabetes compared to diabetes-free controls.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this analysis is to compare people with prevalent type 2 diabetes, incident type 2 diabetes and without diabetes with respect to longitudinal change in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) when adjusting for baseline determinants of HRQOL. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Primary baseline and follow-up data from three regional and one national population-based cohort studies in Germany were pooled for analysis. HRQOL was measured using physical and mental health summary scores (PCS and MCS) from the German version of the Short Form Health Survey with 36 or 12 items. Mean score change per observation year was compared between the three groups (prevalent diabetes, incident diabetes, no diabetes) based on linear regression models. RESULTS: The analysis included pooled data from 5367 people aged 45-74 years at baseline. Of these, 85.5% reported no diabetes at baseline and follow-up, 6.3% reported diabetes at both baseline and follow-up (prevalent diabetes), and 8.2% reported diabetes only at follow-up (incident diabetes). Over a mean observation period of 8.7 years, annual decline in HRQOL scores is pronounced at 0.27-0.32 (PCS) and 0.34-0.38 (MCS) in the group with prevalent diabetes compared with people without diabetes. Those with incident diabetes showed intermediate values but did not differ significantly from people without diabetes after adjustment for covariates in the full model. CONCLUSION: Compared with data from cross-sectional analysis, the HRQOL loss associated with prevalent diabetes appears to be much larger than previously assumed.

Changes in Waist Circumference among German Adults over Time - Compiling Results of Seven Prospective Cohort Studies.

AIM: This study aims to quantify longitudinal changes in waist circumference (WC) among adults aged 45-64 years in Germany. METHODS: Data of 15,444 men and 17,207 women from one nationwide and six regional prospective German cohort studies were analyzed. The sex-specific mean change in WC per year of follow-up was assessed for each study separately. Findings from the cohort-by-cohort analysis were combined by applying meta-analytic methods. Progression to central obesity (WC ≥ 102 cm in men and ≥ 88 cm in women) within a standardized period of 10 years was described for each study. RESULTS: The estimated mean change in WC per year of follow-up for all cohorts combined was 0.53 (95% confidence interval 0.29-0.76) cm/year for men and 0.63 (0.48-0.77) cm/year for women, but varied between the included studies. Within 10 years, about 20% of individuals with low WC (<94 cm in men; <80 cm in women) and about 50% of individuals with intermediate WC (94-102 cm in men; 80-88 cm in women) progressed to central obesity. CONCLUSION: The increase in mean WC with aging along with a profound increase of central adiposity is obviously and may have several adverse health effects. Obesity prevention programs should also focus on abdominal obesity.

Socioeconomic status and anthropometric changes-A meta-analytic approach from seven German cohorts.

OBJECTIVE: To study the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and annual relative change in anthropometric markers in the general German adult population. METHODS: Longitudinal data of 56,556 participants aged 18-83 years from seven population-based German cohort studies (CARLA, SHIP, KORA, DEGS, EPIC-Heidelberg, EPIC-Potsdam, PopGen) were analyzed by meta-analysis using a random-effects model. The indicators of SES were education and household income. RESULTS: On average, all participants gained weight and increased their waist circumference over the study's follow-up period. Men and women in the low education group had a 0.1 percentage points greater annual increase in weight (95% CI men: 0.06-0.20; and women: 0.06-0.12) and waist circumference (95% CI men: 0.01-0.45; and women: 0.05-0.22) than participants in the high education group. Women with low income had a 0.1 percentage points higher annual increase in weight (95% CI 0.00-0.15) and waist circumference (95% CI 0.00-0.14) than women with high income. No association was found for men between income and obesity markers. CONCLUSIONS: Participants with lower SES (education and for women also income) gained more weight and waist circumference than those with higher SES. These results underline the necessity to evaluate the risk of weight gain based on SES to develop more effective preventive measures.

Anthropometric markers and their association with incident type 2 diabetes mellitus: which marker is best for prediction? Pooled analysis of four German population-based cohort studies and comparison with a nationwide cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the association between different anthropometric measurements and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to assess their predictive ability in different regions of Germany. METHODS: Data of 10,258 participants from 4 prospective population-based cohorts were pooled to assess the association of body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR) and waist-to-height-ratio (WHtR) with incident T2DM by calculating HRs of the crude, adjusted and standardised markers, as well as providing receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves. Differences between HRs and ROCs for the different anthropometric markers were calculated to compare their predictive ability. In addition, data of 3105 participants from the nationwide survey were analysed separately using the same methods to provide a nationally representative comparison. RESULTS: Strong associations were found for each anthropometric marker and incidence of T2DM. Among the standardised anthropometric measures, we found the strongest effect on incident T2DM for WC and WHtR in the pooled sample (HR for 1 SD difference in WC 1.97, 95% CI 1.75 to 2.22, HR for WHtR 1.93, 95% CI 1.71 to 2.17 in women) and in female DEGS participants (HR for WC 2.24, 95% CI 1.91 to 2.63, HR for WHtR 2.10, 95% CI 1.81 to 2.44), whereas the strongest association in men was found for WHR among DEGS participants (HR 2.29, 95% CI 1.89 to 2.78). ROC analysis showed WHtR to be the strongest predictor for incident T2DM. Differences in HR and ROCs between the different markers confirmed WC and WHtR to be the best predictors of incident T2DM. Findings were consistent across study regions and age groups (<65 vs ≥ 65 years). CONCLUSIONS: We found stronger associations between anthropometric markers that reflect abdominal obesity (ie, WC and WHtR) and incident T2DM than for BMI and weight. The use of these measurements in risk prediction should be encouraged.

Association of Change of Anthropometric Measurements With Incident Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Pooled Analysis of the Prospective Population-Based CARLA and SHIP Cohort Studies.

Our objective was to investigate the association of change of anthropometric measurements and the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) within a pooled sample of 2 population-based cohorts.A final sample of 1324 women and 1278 men aged 31 to 83 years from 2 prospective cohorts in Germany, the CARLA (Cardiovascular Disease - Living and Ageing in Halle) and the SHIP study (Study of Health in Pomerania), were pooled. The association of change of body weight and waist circumference (WC) with incidence of T2DM was assessed by calculating sex-specific hazard ratios (HRs). We investigated the absolute change of markers of obesity as well as change relative to the baseline value and estimated crude and adjusted HRs. Furthermore, we conducted the analyses stratified by obesity status and age (<60 vs ≥60 years) at baseline.Associations were found for both change of body weight and WC and incidence of T2DM in the crude and adjusted analyses. In the stratified study sample, those participants with a body mass index of <30 kg/m at baseline showed considerably lower HRs compared with obese women and men for both weight and WC. In the age-stratified analysis, we still found associations between change of weight and WC and incident T2DM with only marginal differences between the age groups.Our study showed associations of change of weight and WC as markers of obesity with incidence of T2DM. Keeping a healthy and primarily stable weight should be the goal for preventing the development of T2DM.

Prevalence and Incidence of Hypertension in the General Adult Population: Results of the CARLA-Cohort Study.

Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. There are very few studies dealing with the incidence of hypertension and changes in blood pressure (BP) over time. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence and incidence of hypertension within an adult population-based cohort.The sample included 967 men and 812 women aged 45 to 83 years at baseline, 1436 subjects completed follow-up1 after 4 years and 1079 completed follow-up2 after 9 years. BP was measured according to a standardized protocol with oscillometric devices and hypertension was defined as mean systolic BP (SBP) ≥140  mmHg and/or diastolic BP (DBP) ≥90  mmHg and/or use of antihypertensive medication if hypertension was known. We examined prevalence and incidence of hypertension, by age and sex.The age-standardized prevalence of hypertension at baseline was 74.3% for men and 70.2% for women. The age-standardized annual incidence rate of hypertension for men was 8.6 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 4.3-12.9) for follow-up period1 and 5.4 (95% CI 2.8-10.6) for follow-up period2 and for women 8.2 (95% CI 3.6-12.8) for follow-up1 and 5.6 (95%CI 2.7-11.4) for follow-up2. A clear decrease in SBP and DBP between baseline and follow-up1 and follow-up2 was seen, accompanied by an increase in anti-hypertensive medication consumption and a higher awareness of the condition.Hypertension prevalence and incidence in the CARLA Study appear to be elevated compared with other studies. The decrease of BP over time seems to be caused by improved hypertension control due to interventional effects of our observational study and improved health care.

Gender differences in the association of individual social class and neighbourhood unemployment rate with prevalent type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study from the DIAB-CORE consortium.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse gender differences in the relationship of individual social class, employment status and neighbourhood unemployment rate with present type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). DESIGN: Five cross-sectional studies. SETTING: Studies were conducted in five regions of Germany from 1997 to 2006. PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 8871 individuals residing in 226 neighbourhoods from five urban regions. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalent T2DM. RESULTS: We found significant multiplicative interactions between gender and the individual variables--social class and employment status. Social class was statistically significantly associated with T2DM in men and women, whereby this association was stronger in women (lower vs higher social class: OR 2.68 (95% CIs 1.66 to 4.34)) than men (lower vs higher social class: OR 1.78 (95% CI 1.22 to 2.58)). Significant associations of employment status and T2DM were only found in women (unemployed vs employed: OR 1.73 (95% CI 1.02 to 2.92); retired vs employed: OR 1.77 (95% CI 1.10 to 2.84); others vs employed: OR 1.64 (95% CI 1.01 to 2.67)). Neighbourhood unemployment rate was associated with T2DM in men (high vs low tertile: OR 1.52 (95% CI 1.18 to 1.96)). Between-study and between-neighbourhood variations in T2DM prevalence were more pronounced in women. The considered covariates helped to explain statistically the variation in T2DM prevalence among men, but not among women. CONCLUSIONS: Social class was inversely associated with T2DM in both men and women, whereby the association was more pronounced in women. Employment status only affected T2DM in women. Neighbourhood unemployment rate is an important predictor of T2DM in men, but not in women.