Our research focus in Health Sciences/Public Health

The team Health Sciences/Public Health understand health in accordance with the WHO definition as not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, but also a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. The basis of all research in Health Sciences should be the investigation of the actual state to further develop necessary measures and evaluate them.

Epidemiological methods provide an important basis of preventive healthcare research, i.e. to investigate the current state. Epidemiological data can be acquired from the Saxon child diabetes register or the Saxon register for chronic inflammable bowel diseases (CED register). Both Saxon registers have a large coverage and a high level of completeness, which is why the collected data is dependable and valid.

For several years now, the chair for Health Sciences/Public Health is a project partner of the national diabetes surveillance, initiated by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) and the Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI). Although the surveillance does not deliver especially valid numbers, it offers temporary estimations or approximations, as long as no nationwide diabetes register is established.

Together with more than 70 partners from regional and international departments of health and research institutions from 26 European countries we are involved in the EU-project "Joint Action on Chronic Diseases and Promoting Healthy Ageing across the Life Cycle" (JA-CHRODIS). The participating parties cooperate to identify, validate and distribute optimal treatment measures regarding chronic diseases and to exchange and spread knowledge across regions and countries. As part of “CHRODIS plus” a toolkit with health recommendations shall be designed to address the reconcilability of working life and chronic diseases.

Also quality of life and patient satisfaction form a focus of our research. In cooperation with several self-help organizations, such as the German Society for Multiple Sclerosis (DMSG) and the German Society for Myasthenia gravis (DMG), questionnaire-based surveys on quality of life were performed. Besides the validation of new measuring tools, the identification of patient groups with high need for support was targeted. Together with health insurances in Saxony a total number of 100.000 hospital patients were contacted in three waves and questioned about their satisfaction concerning treatment and accommodation. Hospital management authorities were asked to complement collected patient data with further qualitative and quantitative information. In addition, hospital statistics from the Saxon State Office for Statistics were integrated.

Another area of interest at this chair is the evaluation of clinical pathways in hospitals, generally and specifically in the field of neurological rehabilitation. Several Cochrane reviews addressed the current state of the art with the method of meta-analysis.  

Of steadily growing importance in Public Health is the health impact of rapidly changing climate and environmental conditions in the population. In this regard, an assessment of urban climate data, subjective heat stress and stress-influencing factors was carried out in selected areas of Dresden. The chair for Health Sciences/Public Health is furthermore involved in the WHO-project “healthy cities”.