[Bicycle accidents in the course of time in Münster, Germany : Analysis of changes in bicycle accidents over the past 10 years]. / Münsteraner Fahrradunfälle im Wandel der Zeit : Analyse der Entwicklung der Fahrradunfälle in den letzten 10 Jahren.

BACKGROUND: Bicycles have been a popular means of transport for many years. Especially in times of increased climate discussion, the bicycle has moved further into focus as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective means of transport. Bike lanes and roads are becoming more crowded and new means of transport such as pedelecs or e­scooters are emerging. METHODS: A total of four studies by Münster University Hospital on bicycle accidents and the official accident statistics of the Münster police were compared. In the period from 2009 to 2019, three studies were conducted that considered all bicycle accidents and one study that only considered pedelec riders separately. RESULTS: The age distribution as well as main causes of accidents remained almost the same over the years. The number of pedelec accidents has increased. Pedelec riders have a higher average age and a higher proportion of intensive care stays; however, this cohort also has a high rate of helmet wearers. Overall, the willingness to wear a helmet seems to have increased. CONCLUSION: It should be considered that with increasing bicycle traffic, safety measures must be increased accordingly. In this respect, accident prevention should focus on three major areas, engineering, education and enforcement.

[How Probable is it That Seniors Using an E-Bike Will Have an Accident? - A New Health Care Topic, Also for Consulting Doctors]. / Zur Unfallwahrscheinlichkeit von Senioren bei der Nutzung von E-Bikes.

BACKGROUND: In Germany there are more than 70 million bicycles. Because of technical progress, over 200,000 electro-assisted bikes were sold in Germany in 2010 alone. In 2013, the number increased to 410,000. Currently more than 1.6 million electric bicycles are used here. One of the largest user groups are seniors. Accident researchers fear an increased risk of accidents/injuries. METHODS: For one year, all cycling accidents involving electric bicycles and senior citizens were collected and analysed in 23 hospitals of the TraumaNetwork NorthWest and by the local police authorities. RESULTS: A comparison of the senior and younger electro-assisted cyclists showed a higher risk of injury for seniors in the initial analysis. A further comparative analysis of severely injured seniors who were riding an electro-assisted bike with those who used a conventional bicycle contradicted this. There was no statistical significance. The risk of an accident increased with age, but not with bicycle type. CONCLUSION: To reduce accidents, driving training and medical precautionary examinations could be used to detect losses of performance, cognitive processing and balance. In the future, they should become an integral part of the health care system and the services of practicing physicians.

Prediction of PTSD in police officers after six months--a prospective study.

The aim of this prospective study was to explore the predictors for the development of PTSD in police officers six months after encountering situations of a potentially traumatic nature. Fifty-nine police officers were studied immediately after the event (T1) and six months later (T2). At T2 PTSD was assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I). PTSD was predicted by intrusions (Impact of Event Scale-Revised; IES-R), the impairment scale (is), global assessment of functioning scale (GAF), gender, age and sense of coherence scale (SOC). The diagnosis of an acute stress disorder (ASD) at T1 had a high specificity for identifying PTSD at T2. The strongest predictor for the development of PTSD was found to be the factor intrusions. Contrary to our expectations, age was not a significant predictive factor for PTSD. Thus, acute stress disorder (ASD) and a high degree of intrusions experienced immediately after a traumatic incident helped to identify early police officers at risk of developing chronic PTSD.

Prediction of PTSD in police officers after six months - a prospective study

The aim of this prospective study was to explore the predictors for the development of PTSD in police officers six months after encountering situations of a potentially traumatic nature. Fifty-nine police officers were studied immediately after the event (T1) and six months later (T2). At T2 PTSD was assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I). PTSD was predicted by intrusions (Impact of Event Scale-Revised; IES-R), the impairment scale (is), global assessment of functioning scale (GAF), gender, age and sense of coherence scale (SOC). The diagnosis of an acute stress disorder (ASD) at T1 had a high specificity for identifying PTSD at T2. The strongest predictor for the development of PTSD was found to be the factor intrusions. Contrary to our expectations, age was not a significant predictive factor for PTSD. Thus, acute stress disorder (ASD) and a high degree of intrusions experienced immediately after a traumatic incident helped to identify early police officers at risk of developing chronic PTSD (AU)

Este estudio prospectivo pretendía determinar las predicciones del trastorno por estrés postraumático (TEPT) para agentes de policía pasados seis meses de un evento potencialmente traumático. Se evaluó a 59 agentes de policía directamente después del incidente (T1) y seis meses después (T2). En la segunda fase de evaluación (T2), TEPT se medía mediante entrevista semiestrucurada (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV; SCID-I), esto permitía identificar a los participantes que cumplían con los criterios DSM-IV para el diagnóstico de este trastorno. Además, TEPT se evaluó midiendo las intrusiones (con la Escala revisada del impacto de los eventos; -Impact of Event Scale Revised; IES-R), el deterioro de salud (con la Escala de deterioro -Impairment scale -IS-), la evaluación global del funcionamiento (global assessment of functioning -GAF-), género, edad y escala de coherencia (sense of coherence, - SOC-). Los resultados mostraron que el diagnóstico de trastorno de estrés agudo (en T1) estaba estrechamente relacionado con la identificación posterior del TEPT (en T2). Siendo las intrusiones el mejor predictor. En contra de las expectativas, la edad no fue un buen predictor del TEPT. Asimismo, el desorden de estrés agudo y el alto grado de intrusiones vividas inmediatamente después del incidente traumático ayudaron a la identificación temprana de agentes de policía susceptibles de padecer un TEPT crónico (AU)

Effects of acute vestibular lesions on visual orientation and spatial memory, shown for the visual straight ahead.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between the vestibular system and orientation in space and the role of acute vestibular lesions in spatial memory. In a first step it could be shown that determining the visual straight ahead is systematically influenced by caloric irrigation: deviations up to 10 degrees appeared, which are directed to the slow phase of the simultaneously provoked nystagmus. In a second step, 20 healthy subjects and 20 patients suffering from an acute vestibular disorder were asked to adjust a luminous point visual straight ahead. Whereas the healthy subjects' visual straight ahead was in a range of +/-2 degrees, the vestibular patients showed significantly greater deviations. If healthy subjects and patients were asked to replace a luminous point, which was exposed for a short time, to its original position, young and older healthy subjects showed good performance, with an error not greater than 3 degrees, whereas the vestibular patients showed significantly greater inaccuracy. We conclude that the visual straight ahead is a vestibular-dependent parameter of visual orientation and that spatial memory is influenced by acute vestibular lesions. For the first time it is shown that acute vestibular lesions impair spatial memory. This can be explained by the close relationship between the vestibular system and the hippocampus.

[Coping mechanisms of police officers with mental and psychosomatic symptoms after an event of potential psychotraumatic nature]. / psychotraumatischen Ereignis.

OBJECTIVES: This prospective study analyzes the coping mechanisms of police officers directly after an event of potential traumatic nature in the line of duty (e. g. use of firearms) as well as 6 months later. METHOD: 59 police officers were contacted by professional crisis intervention teams of the police force. After an extended interview, an ICD-10 diagnosis, if applicable, was assigned. Six months later a diagnosis was derived by a clinician (Diplom-Psychologe) using a structured interview. Coping strategies were accessed by the FKV (Freiburger Fragebogen zur Krankheitsverarbeitung) questionnaire. RESULTS: Fourteen police officers (28%) received the diagnosis of a PTSD (ICD-10: F43.1) at 6 months. The coping mechanisms of the traumatized police officers were significantly elevated in a dysfunctional manner in the areas "emotional control and social retreat" (only directly after the event), "regression", "mistrust and pessimism", and "depressive processing". CONCLUSIONS: Because dysfunctional coping mechanisms impede the decline of the symptoms, it may be considered adequate to strengthen the coping mechanisms for functional coping with these symptoms, thereby focusing on the dysfunctional coping strategy specific to the police force, namely, emotional control.

[Quality of psychological strain in police work--development of a taxonomy of sources of stress]. / Klassifikation psychischer Belastungen innerhalb der Polizei - Entwicklung einer Taxonomie der Belastungsqualitäten.

OBJECTIVES: Police officers frequently face traumatic stressors of different origins and thus bear an increased risk of developing a post-traumatic stress disorder. The most mentally burdening situations range from shootings, death of fellow officers, dealing with dead bodies in general, the effects of shift work, time pressure or discontent with management due to mobbing. Part of the present study examines the quality of stress in police work with the goal of developing a taxonomy of the origins of stress. METHODS: A stratified sample of 109 police officers participated in the study. They were interviewed about stressful situations in their work life. In the interviews participants generated incidents describing stressful or straining situations. These incidents were used to develop a taxonomy of stressful situations in everyday police work. A further 22 interviews with officers of the federal police were carried out to examine the transferability of the developed taxonomy to other occupational groups. RESULTS: The taxonomy distinguishes between five sources of strain. Strain can arise from (1.) the task itself, (2.) the organization and structure of work, (3.) the temporal conditions and (4.) the social conditions. The fifth category describes the source of strain based on other conditions. The results also show that the taxonomy is transferable to other occupational groups. CONCLUSIONS: This taxonomy leads to the systematisation of the differences among the stress phenomena which occur in police work. The results can help in the development of practical prevention, counselling and therapeutic programs.

[Secondary prevention for police officers involved in job-related psychologically stressful or traumatic situations]. / Sekundärprävention bei schwerer Belastung und Traumatisierung durch beruflich bedingte Exposition im Polizeidienst.

OBJECTIVES: Police officers are at high risk of being exposed to psychologically straining situations and potentially psychotraumatic experiences. In this article, such situations are exemplified and categorized, and the role and significance of secondary prevention following traumatic experiences is discussed. METHODS: From 1994 to 2003, 649 police officers received secondary prevention after being involved in a total of 250 potentially traumatic or psychologically stressful incidents. Psychological support was provided by teams of specially trained professionals in the acute phase after the incident following careful psychological evaluation. In a retrospective evaluation, the diagnoses obtained were analyzed with regard to sex and age and correlated with the severity of the incident. Three clusters of potentially traumatic situations were formed: (1) Employment of fire-arms with danger for the officer, (2) Standard situations including violence towards a third party, (3) Suicide or attempted suicide of a police officer. RESULTS: Police officers who experienced events assigned to cluster (1), comprising situations with considerable traumatic potential, had the highest incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental illness. Compared to male officers, females were more often diagnosed with other mental illness, whereas males had a higher incidence of PTSD. Cluster (2), which comprised situations of an officer's daily professional life, was not associated with an increased risk of mental illness. Officers were apparently capable of coping with situations considered psychologically straining for the general public without detectable evidence of a traumatic reaction. In cluster (3), which reflects the most dramatic interference with team relations, other forms of mental illness were diagnosed at a higher incidence.