Christian Meyer

University of Greifswald · Prevention Research and Social Medicine

BACKGROUND Digital interventions have been successfully used to address addictive behaviors, such as substance use, in adolescents and young adults. However, maintaining engagement remains a challenge for digital substance use interventions. There is limited evidence on the determinants of engagement with multiple behavioral interventions among voc...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Langzeitbetrachtungen der Alkoholabhängigkeit können Aufschluss zu Ätiologie, Prävention und therapeutischer Versorgung bieten. Ziel Beschreibung empirischer Befunde zur Entwicklung in eine Alkoholabhängigkeit hinein und Entwicklungen aus ihr heraus. Methodik Narrative Literaturrecherche, Analyse von Ergebnissen aus K...

This article examines the implementation, participation rates, and potential determinants of participation in the digital addiction prevention program “ready4life.” A two-arm cluster-randomized trial recruited German vocational students via class-based strategies. Intervention group received 16 weeks of in-app coaching; the control group received h...

BACKGROUND Vocational school students exhibit a high prevalence of addictive behaviors. Digital prevention programs targeting multiple addictive behaviors and promoting life skills are promising. Tailoring intervention content to participants’ preferences, such as allowing them to choose behavior modules, may increase engagement and efficacy. Howev...

Introduction: Findings from general population studies are lacking in regard to the co-occurrence of alcohol and nicotine dependence in relation to later mortality. The aim of this study was to analyze potential interactions of risky alcohol drinking, tobacco smoking, alcohol and nicotine dependence, and time until the first cigarette is smoked in...

Mortality is predicted by the sum of behavior-related health risk factors (BRFs: tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, body overweight, and physical inactivity). We analyzed degrees and combinations of BRFs in their relation to mortality and adjusted for mental disorders. In a random sample of the general population in northern Germany aged 18–64, BRF...

Background: There is evidence for e-Health interventions for full-blown depression. Little is known regarding commonly untreated subthreshold depression in primary care. This randomized controlled multi-centre trial assessed reach and two-year-effects of a proactive e-Health intervention (ActiLife) for patients with subthreshold depression. Metho...

Introduction: Previous studies analyzing friendships with people only known through the Internet mainly focused on quantitative aspects (e.g., the number of online friends or the time spent with them). Little is known about the perceived quality of online compared to real-life friends in individuals with an Internet use disorder (IUD). This study...

Background: Vocational students have an increased risk to engage in health-risk behaviors compared to same-aged peers. To date, evidence-based digital prevention approaches that address multiple health-risk behaviors are rare. Method: The randomized-controlled trial (RCT) “Prevention of at-risk substance and Internet use disorders among vocational...

The objective was to test whether Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) results may predict mortality after 20 years. An observational study was conducted. It included an interview of a general population sample aged 18 to 64 in northern Germany in the years 1996 − 1997 (baseline) and a mortality-follow-up in the years 2017 − 2018. Stud...

Background Few studies have assessed trajectories of alcohol use in the general population, and even fewer studies have assessed the impact of brief intervention on the trajectories. Especially for low-risk drinkers, it is unclear what trajectories occur, whether they benefit from intervention, and if so, when and how long. The aims were first, to...

Background: Little is known about how substance use affects health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in depressed individuals. Here, associations between alcohol consumption and HRQOL in hospital and ambulatory care patients with past-year depressive symptoms are analyzed. Method: The sample consisted of 590 participants (26.8% non-drinkers) recru...

Background Missing data are ubiquitous in randomised controlled trials. Although sensitivity analyses for different missing data mechanisms (missing at random vs. missing not at random) are widely recommended, they are rarely conducted in practice. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate sensitivity analyses for different assumptions regard...

Background Adolescents and young adults (AYA) have an increased risk for Internet use disorders (IUD) compared to older individuals that may lead to functional impairments in daily life. To date, evidence-based brief interventions are lacking. This study aimed to test the efficacy of a low-threshold counseling approach based on Motivational Intervi...

Background The alcohol-attributable burden of disease is high among socially disadvantaged individuals. Interventional efforts intending to have a public health impact should also address the reduction of social inequalities due to alcohol. Objective The aim was to test the moderating role of educational background on the efficacy of a computer-ba...

This study investigated whether tobacco smoking affected outcomes of brief alcohol interventions (BAIs) in at-risk alcohol-drinking general hospital patients. Between 2011 and 2012 among patients aged 18–64 years, 961 patients were allocated to in-person counseling (PE), computer-based BAI containing computer-generated individual feedback letters (...

Objectives To estimate mortality on grounds of the severity of alcohol dependence which has been assessed by two approaches: the frequency of alcohol dependence symptoms (FADS) and the number of alcohol dependence criteria (NADC). Methods A random sample of adult community residents in northern Germany at age 18 to 64 had been interviewed in 1996....

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Bislang ist zum Sucht- und Gesundheitsverhalten von Jugendlichen, die berufliche Schulen besuchen, nur wenig bekannt. Ziel der Arbeit Auf Grundlage der Daten einer Stichprobe Berufslernender in der Schweiz wird untersucht, (1) in welchen demographischen Subgruppen Suchtverhaltensweisen, Belastungs- und Schutzfaktoren b...

Very few general population studies have analyzed the associations of age and gender with several aspects of gambling in Germany. Internationally, conflicting results have been found. Additionally, a decrease in age of onset of gambling was found in the USA but could not yet be demonstrated for Germany. We close these gaps, using data from the 2010...

Background Evidence suggests that people who abstain from alcohol have a higher mortality rate than those who drink low to moderate amounts. However, little is known about factors that might be causal for this finding. The objective was to analyze former alcohol or drug use disorders, risky drinking, tobacco smoking, and fair to poor health among p...

BACKGROUND The alcohol-attributable burden of disease is high among socially disadvantaged individuals. Interventional efforts intending to have a public health impact should also address the reduction of social inequalities due to alcohol. OBJECTIVE The aim was to test the moderating role of educational background on the efficacy of a computer-ba...

Background The Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) is a screening questionnaire of depressive symptoms. However, it is unknown whether it is equivalent across time and between groups of individuals. The aim of our paper was to test whether the PHQ-8 has the same meaning in two groups of individuals over time. Methods Primary care patients were...

Background and aims Evidence for efficacy of brief alcohol interventions (BAIs) is mostly limited to primary care and at‐risk drinkers. The aim was to test the efficacy of a BAI addressing the full spectrum of alcohol use in a general population sample and across alcohol risk groups. Design Two‐parallel‐group randomized controlled trial (allocatio...

Alcohol drinking in Germany increased in the year 2018 in comparison to the year before. With its consumption of 10.7 litres pure alcohol per resident age 15 years or older Germany is a high per capita consumption country in international comparison. Alcohol consumption is associated with prevalent health disorders, among them cancer. The associati...

Background: The aim was to investigate the suitability of a municipal registry office for alcohol screening and brief intervention. We analyzed whether trial participation and retention differ by alcohol- and health-related, demographic and socio-economic participant characteristics. Methods: Over 3 months, all 18- to 64-year-old visitors of a r...

Ziel der Prävention ist, das Auftreten alkohol-attributabler Krankheiten und sozialer Schäden in der Gesamtbevölkerung zu reduzieren und dadurch zu einer Verbesserung der Lebensqualität und -dauer beizutragen. Prävention ist ein Versorgungssystem wie die medizinische Versorgung und umfasst drei Elemente: die Erreichung eines möglichst großen Teils...

Self‐reported physical activity differs from activity levels measured by device. We tested the effect of a video that visualizes the intensity levels of physical activity to increase the agreement between self‐reported and accelerometer‐based moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) within a single‐blinded, randomized study. Participants (N=37...

Background and Aims Existing evidence suggests that text message interventions can help people reduce their alcohol consumption. However, studies with alcohol dependent patients are lacking. In this study a 1‐year automatic mobile phone‐based short messaging service (SMS) intervention on alcohol consumption in patients after alcohol detoxification...

Abstract A reliable diagnosis of adult Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is challenging as many of the symptoms of ADHD resemble symptoms of other disorders. ADHD is associated with gambling disorder and obesity, showing overlaps of about 20% with each diagnosis. It is important for clinical practice to differentiate between condition...

Aims: To investigate latent patterns of alcohol use and bingeing by gender and their association with depressive symptom severity and individual depressive symptoms. Design: Cross-sectional data were collected January 2017 to March 2018 as part of a joint screening recruiting for different intervention studies. Setting: Ambulatory practices an...

Background In combination with systematic routine screening, brief alcohol interventions have the potential to promote population health. Little is known on the optimal screening interval. Therefore, this study pursued 2 research questions: (i) How stable are screening results for at‐risk drinking over 12 months? (ii) Can the transition from low‐ri...

Objective To predict depressive symptom severity and presence of major depression along the full alcohol use continuum. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Ambulatory practices and general hospitals from three sites in Germany. Participants Consecutive patients aged 18–64 years were proactively approached for an anonymous health screening (par...

Background.: General population data on associations between mental disorders and total mortality are rare. The aim was to analyze whether the number of mental disorders, single substance use, mood, anxiety, somatoform or eating disorders during the lifetime and whether treatment utilization may predict time to death 20 years later in the general...

Most individuals with a lifetime history of pathological gambling (PGs) overcome their gambling problems without formal help. Little is known about factors associated with recovery in gamblers without treatment. The aim of this study was to examine associations of psychiatric comorbidity and social conditions with remission among untreated PGs. Two...

Studien deuten darauf hin, dass Personen mit Internetbezogenen Störungen kognitive Verzerrungen hinsichtlich der subjektiven Bedeutsamkeit virtueller gegenüber realer Freunde aufweisen. Bislang ist unklar, inwiefern dies mit der wahrgenommenen sozialen Unterstützung im realen Leben und psychischer Komorbidität zusammenhängt. In der PINTA-DIARI Stud...

Objective: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is an established screening questionnaire for the detection of at-risk drinking and possible alcohol use disorders (AUD) according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - fourth edition (DSM-IV). But there are still no comparable results on the diagnostic perfo...

Background Little is known about the impact of brief alcohol interventions on mental and general health. The aim was to investigate whether brief interventions for general hospital inpatients with at-risk drinking can improve mental and general health over 2 years; and whether effects are dependent on how they are delivered: in-person or through co...

Underreporting of alcohol consumption is one of the major challenges in survey research including self-reports. The aim of this study was to test whether underreporting can be reduced by prompting respondents to first reflect on their drinking in the past week and then answer quantity-frequency based screening questions on their typical alcohol use...

Zusammenfassung Suizidalität ist bei Menschen mit pathologischem Glücksspiel ein weit verbreitetes Phänomen. Risikofaktoren für Suizidalität sind bei Menschen mit Glücksspielproblemen in hohem Maße anzutreffen. Zudem gibt es Hinweise darauf, dass pathologisches Glücksspiel selbst einen Risikofaktor für Suizidgedanken und -versuche darstellt. Diese...

Background: A pre-post pilot study was conducted to test the feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness of a fully automatized computer-based intervention targeting hazardous drinking and depressiveness in proactively recruited health care patients (HCPs). To address the importance of the sample selection when testing interventions, HC...

Available at: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-662-55793-8_33-1.pdf

Alcohol consumption in Germany decreased, in the year 2016 it was 10.6 litres pure alcohol per resident at age 15 or older. This is still very high in international comparison. Globally, the European region had the highest and Germany an extraordinary high alcohol consumption. Alcohol is a product at risk for health and has been documented as risk...

Objectives Real world implementation of proactive screening and brief intervention in health care is threatened by high cost. Using e‐health interventions and screening for multiple health risk factors may provide more efficiency. We describe methodological details of a proactive multipurpose health risk screening in health care settings and report...

Background and aims Internet Addiction (IA) has consistently been related to comorbid psychiatric disorders and lowered self-esteem. However, most studies relied on self-report questionnaires using non-representative samples. This study aims to analyze the relative impact of self-esteem and comorbid psychopathology with lifetime IA in a population-...

Problematic and pathological gambling have emerged as substantial problems in many countries. One potential accelerating factor for this phenomenon during recent years is the Internet, which offers different kinds of games and online applications for gambling that are faster, more attractive due to a variety of design and marketing options, less co...

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to identify drinking patterns and determine their intraindividual stability over the course of four weeks among a sample of adults from the general population. Methods: The sample comprised 288 adults who reported drinking alcohol at least once per month (49% female; mean age = 33.1 years, SD = 12....

Zusammenfassung. Hintergrund: Internationale Studien belegen eine erhöhte gesundheitsbezogene Morbidität bei Angehörigen von Suchtkranken. Ziel der Studie ist die Einschätzung des Ausmaßes des Problems und von Belastungsmaßen bei Angehörigen außerhalb des Suchthilfesystems in Deutschland. Methodik: In Arztpraxen und Allgemeinkrankenhäusern wurden k...

Background and aims Symptoms of pathological gambling (SPG) and depression often co-occur. The nature of this relationship remains unclear. Rumination, which is well known to be associated with depression, might act as a common underlying factor explaining the frequent co-occurrence of both conditions. The aim of this study is to analyze associatio...

Background: To compare the reproducibility in total cholesterol (TC), systolic blood pressure (BP), and the resulting Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) obtained by an in-office cardio-preventive screening program (SP) and a subsequent program performed in a clinical trial examination center (EP). Methods: A total of 307 individuals (60...

Introduction: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is an internationally well-established screening tool for the assessment of hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption. To be valid for group comparisons, the AUDIT should measure the same latent construct with the sa