Leibniz-Institut für Präventionsforschung und Epidemiologie – BIPS

New study alert! Researchers at BIPS simulated effects of hypothetical reductions of air pollution and increased greenness on the incidence of pre/hypertension in children applying the g-formula. The risk was dose-dependently reduced compared to no intervention, particularly by PM2.5 and black carbon reductions. Great work by Maike Wolters, Rajini Nagrani, Nour Naaouf, Wolfgang Ahrens & Claudia Börnhorst For more information, click the link below. Wolters, Maike, Nagrani, Rajini, Naaouf, Nour, De Henauw, Stefaan, Lissner, Lauren, Moreno, Luis A., Molnár, Dénes, Russo, Paola, Vrijkotte, Tanja, Ahrens, Wolfgang, Börnhorst, Claudia & on behalf of the IDEFICS and I.Family consortia. Effects of ambient air pollutants and environmental greenness on the incidence of pre-/hypertension in children and adolescents. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. 2025; forthcoming. https://lnkd.in/egzzcRvR

New study alert! BIPS researchers say: "Drugs containing testosterone are used to treat delayed onset of puberty, excessive growth and hypogonadism in boys/men. This paper is the first to present an overview over the prescribing of testosterone in Germany between 2009 and 2021." Fascinating work by Wiebke Schäfer, Oliver Scholle, Jost Viebrock & Ulrike Haug! See more details below. Schäfer, Wiebke, Scholle, Oliver,Viebrock, Jost & Haug, Ulrike. Verordnung von testosteronhaltigen Arzneimitteln in Deutschland. Bulletin zur Arzneimittelsicherheit - Informationen aus BfArM und PEI. 2025;34-8. https://lnkd.in/daRttuV6

New study alert! BIPS researchers found out that when a widely used random forest model for classifying physical behaviour from accelerometer data was validated in an independent population, the accuracy dropped from 79% to 40%. Performance varied by behavior, but not by age, sex, or BMI. Great work by Annika Swenne, Antje Hebestreit & Christoph Buck! See details below. Swenne, Annika, Sigcha, Luis, Hebestreit, Antje, Bouchan, Jérôme, Cimler, Richard, Cardon, Greet, Elavsky, Steriani, Fezeu, Leopold K., Kühnova, Jitka, Oppert, Jean-Michel, Vetrovsky, Tomas, Donnelly, Alan, Van de Ven, Pepjin & Buck, Christoph. External validation of a hip-worn accelerometry-based machine learning model for physical behavior classification in free-living conditions. Journal for the Measurement of Physical Behaviour. 2025; forthcoming.

New study alert! This paper uses the COVID-19 pandemic in Bremen to illustrate the geographical perspective on health. The authors investigated new COVID-19 infections per week in district and socio-demographic indicators. The results show spatial differences in COVID-19 cases and a greater burden in deprived city districts. For more information click the link below. Buck, Christoph, Koller, Daniela, Kibele, Eva, Schulze, Katharina & Augustin, Jobst. Geografie und Gesundheit: Das Beispiel der COVID-19-Pandemie in Bremen. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz. 2025;68(10):1100-1110. https://lnkd.in/e7hamAce

Die Temperaturen fallen, im Hals breitet sich ein Kratzen aus, dann ist es Zeit für eine warme Gemüsebrühe. Doch beim Blick auf die Zutatenliste von Instant-Gemüsebrühe aus dem Supermarkt zeigt sich: viele Produkte enthalten nur sehr wenig Gemüse und dafür reichlich Geschmacksverstärker wie z. B. Glutamat und Hefeextrakt, sowie pflanzliche Fette wie Palmfett, Zucker und viel Salz. Wie sich eine Gemüsebrühe einfach selber herstellen lässt, erklären Brigitte Bücking & Wiebke v. Atens-Kahlenberg im Ernährungsnewsletter. Ein Einblick in die vielfältigen Transferaktivitäten des BIPS - einfach zum Nachkochen: https://lnkd.in/e-AifTuQ

I’m pleased to share our latest publication in Frontiers in Public Health: “Pre–Post Study on the Real-Life Testing of the EU Mobile App for Cancer Prevention.” In this study, we tested the cancer prevention app in real-life conditions across six European countries to see how it shapes cancer awareness and usability. What we found: ✅ Using the app led to an increase in cancer awareness among participants ✅ Improvements were strongest among those with lower digital health literacy, showing that digital tools can help reduce inequalities ✅ Younger and middle-aged adults benefitted most, while older adults and people with lower education levels faced more challenges ✅ Usability was rated as acceptable but highlighted important areas for refinement Together with our earlier usability evaluation (doi: 10.2196/73844), this study provides real-world evidence that a mobile app based on the European Code Against Cancer can raise awareness and support prevention efforts — while also showing where improvements are needed to make it more accessible, sustainable, and equitable. The work was carried out within the @BUMPER project (Boosting the Usability of the EU Mobile App for Cancer Prevention), funded by the EU4Health programme under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. The project brings together partners from eleven countries to make cancer prevention more accessible and equitable. The app is built on the European Code Against Cancer, coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and aims to translate evidence-based recommendations into practical tools for citizens. Grateful to all co-authors, institutions, and participants who made this work possible. Hajo Zeeb Helena Ros Comesaña Erica D'Souza David Ritchie Association of European Cancer Leagues Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS IARC - International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organization #DigitalHealth #CancerPrevention #HealthLiteracy #mHealth #Equity #EU4Health