Thomas Volken

Background: Neck pain is a significant public health issue, especially among office workers, with a prevalence ranging from 42 to 68%. This study aimed to evaluate the cost-utility and cost-benefit of a multi-component intervention targeting neck pain in the general population of office workers in Switzerland. The 12-week multi-component intervent...

Background The impact of COVID-19 on healthcare utilization in the early pandemic is well documented. However, studies on changes in both primary and tertiary pediatric healthcare utilization that considered data beyond the first pandemic year is lacking. Methods National health insurance data (primary care) and pediatric emergency department data...

Aim To compare student nurses' expectations and newly qualified nurses' experiences regarding clinical practice in Switzerland 1 year after graduation. Design A secondary explorative analysis of a cross‐sectional survey. Methods The data were sourced from the Swiss National Graduate Survey of Health Professionals covering six universities of appl...

AIMS OF THE STUDY: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) indicators are patient-reported outcomes (PROs). PROs are defined as any report of the status of a patient’s health condition or health behaviour that comes directly from the patient, without interpretation of the patient’s response by a clinician or anyone else. Despite Swiss national bodie...

Background The need to maintain physical and social distance between people and the stay-at-home recommendation/order to contain the spread of COVID-19 have raised concerns about the possible increase in loneliness. However, few studies have analyzed trends or changes in loneliness in samples of young adults. The present study aimed to explore the...

In myelofibrosis, comorbidities (CMs) add prognostic information independently from the Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System (DIPSS). The Myelodysplastic Syndrome-Specific Comorbidity Index (MDS-CI) offers a simple tool for CM assessment as it is calculable after having performed a careful history and physical examination, a small routin...

Background The Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale for People with Dementia is a promising instrument for nursing home quality improvement and research in dementia care. It enables frontline staff in nursing homes to understand and rate the needs and concerns of people with dementia. We recently adapted the measure to include easy language for...

Background Musculoskeletal pain, especially back pain, is common among health care professionals (HP). For prevention purposes, it is important to know whether HP develop their symptoms before or after entering the health care workforce. Cross-sectional studies among HP cannot answer this question. This follow-up study measures the prevalence and i...

Background: Office workers are specifically vulnerable to headache conditions. Neck pain is reported by almost 80% of patients with headaches. Associations between currently recommended tests to examine cervical musculoskeletal impairments, pressure pain sensitivity and self-reported variables in headache, are unknown. The aim of this study is to...

Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of treatment choice on survival, transfusion needs and hospitalizations in patients > 64 years old with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Material and methods This study retrospectively analysed patients over 64 years with AML diagnosed at a regional healthcare network in S...

Background: During the 2020/2021 winter, the labour market was under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes in socioeconomic resources during this period could have influenced individual mental health. This association may have been mitigated or exacerbated by subjective risk perceptions, such as perceived risk of getting infected with SARS-...

In myelofibrosis, the C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin ratio (CAR) and the Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) add prognostic information independently of the Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System (DIPSS). Their prognostic impact, if molecular aberrations are considered, is currently unknown. We performed a retrospective chart review of 108 MF...

Introduction: Immunoadsorption (IA) of isohemagglutinins is an often-crucial procedure in preparation of major ABO blood group-incompatible living donor kidney transplantation (ABOi LDKT). Standard citrate-based anticoagulation during the procedure has potential disadvantages for distinct patient groups. In this study, we report our experience wit...

Background Due to the complexity of the provision of care for people with dementia, pain assessment and management is still considered to be lacking. An optimal way to support frontline staff in providing pain assessment and management for people with dementia living in nursing homes has not yet been identified. The success of supporting interventi...

Background: Movement control tests (MCTs) are clinical tests to evaluate impairment of movement and associated neuromuscular control and are commonly used to evaluate people with neck pain or headache conditions. The aim of this study was to establish inter-rater reliability as well as discriminatory and predictive validity for seven MCTs of the up...

Purpose Neck pain is common among office workers and leads to work productivity loss. This study aimed to investigate the effect of a multi-component intervention on neck pain-related work productivity loss among Swiss office workers. Methods Office workers, aged 18–65 years, and without serious neck-related health problems were recruited from two...

(1) Background and objective: to explore the experiences of Swiss health care providers involved in a community fall prevention pilot project on barriers and facilitations in interprofessional cooperation between 2016 and 2017 in three regions of Switzerland. (2) Methods: semi-structured interviews with health care providers assessed their perspect...

Introduction Home-dwelling older people with chronic diseases often need the support of informal and formal caregivers in order to continue living at home. Family members, however, need to be willing and prepared for caregiving together with home care nurses. Objectives The purpose of this study was to explore factors associated with family caregi...

Objectives Young adults have been overly affected by the containment measures against COVID-19 and, consequently, worsening in mental health and change in health behavior have been reported. Because the life phase of emerging adulthood is crucial for developing health behaviors, this study aims to examine increase in alcohol consumption, single and...

Background In Switzerland, there is a lack of adequate rehabilitation services, and effective coordination, that take into account the multifactorial health risks of older people. The literature shows that the hospitalisation rate in rehabilitation facilities has increased in recent years and that a gender bias exists. Additionally, there is little...

Background: Hospitals are using nursing-sensitive outcomes (NSOs) based on administrative data to measure and benchmark quality of nursing care in acute care wards. In order to facilitate comparisons between different hospitals and wards with heterogeneous patient populations, proper adjustment procedures are required. In this article, we first id...

INTRODUCTION Job satisfaction of midwives is important to prevent skill shortage.Those working in midwife-led models of care work more independently and have more responsibility. No previous study investigated if a self-initiated and self-responsible project could enhance job satisfaction of midwives working in a medical-led maternity unit. The aim...

Background In this article, we report the cultural adaption and translation of the Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale for People with Dementia (IPOS-Dem) into a Swiss-German easy language version for proxy assessment of people with dementia living in Swiss nursing homes. The Swiss-German easy language version of the IPOS-Dem was developed and...

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic and government measures implemented to counter the spread of the infection may be a major stressor affecting the psychological health of university students. This study aimed to explore how anxiety symptoms changed during the pandemic. Methods: 676 students (76% females) at Zurich University of Applied Sciences part...

Introduction During treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), about 40% of patients return to drinking. Whether the risk of relapse changes during treatment and how relapses may affect the risk of subsequent relapse are unclear, however. The current study, therefore, aims to identify when and with what probability relapses occur. Methods One hundr...

Background: Musculoskeletal pain, especially back pain, is common among health professionals (HPs). They reduce work productivity and cause high costs. This follow up study investigates the prevalence and individual course of Musculoskeletal pain among HP students at the end of their studies and one year after entering the health care workforce. Pa...

Background Young adults are not considered a risk group for contracting COVID-19, but they are disproportionately affected by pandemic containment measures compared to other age groups. University students were confronted with abrupt changes both in their personal and academic lives. The “Health in Students during the Corona pandemic” study (HES-C)...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has forced around 50 % of employees of Switzerland into a working from home setting during March and April 2020. Working from home appears to change the work experience of office workers considerably. The aim of this analysis was to investigate the effect of the first COVID-19 lockdown on work stress conditions. Me...

Background University students were confronted with abrupt changes by the COVID-19 lock-down in their personal and academic lives. The “Health in Students during the Corona pandemic” study investigated the impact on mental health and health behaviors of Swiss university students. Methods April 2020 all students of the Zurich University of Applied...

To date, little is known about the long-term trajectory of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms in health professions (HP) students over the course of the pandemic. Like health professionals in general, HP students may have a significantly greater susceptibility to GAD symptoms due to their involvement in the health care system and the assoc...

Background and objectives Antibodies (Ab) against HLA and HPA antigens play an important role in HCT. In this prospective study we evaluated prevalence and kinetics of HLA- and HPA-Ab after HCT, including a possible donor-recipient transfer and their clinical relevance in respect to platelet transfusion refractoriness (PTR). Materials and methods...

The speed and innovation of the COVID-19 vaccine development has been accompanied by insecurity and skepticism. Young adults' attitude to vaccination remains under investigation, although herd immunity cannot be reached without them. The HEalth in Students during the Co-rona pandemic study (HES-C) provided the opportunity to investigate vaccination...

Aims We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale for people with dementia-based case studies to improve the caring quality for people with dementia in nursing homes by frontline staff and family members. Background Swiss nursing homes mostly care for people with dementia. This population is at high risk of...

Background Transfusions are the mainstay of supportive therapy in patients with aplastic anemia (AA) and may lead to anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alloimmunization, thereby also increasing the risk for donor-specific antibodies in the setting of HLA-mismatched transplantation. Historically, AA patients were thought to be at particularly high r...

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of working from home on neck pain (NP) among office workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Participants from two Swiss organisations, aged 18–65 years and working from home during the lockdown ( n = 69) were included. Baseline data collected in January 2020 before the lockdown (off...

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic and government measures implemented to counter the spread of the infection may be a major stressor affecting the psychological health of university students. This study aimed to explore how anxiety symptoms changed during the pandemic. Methods 676 students (76% females) at Zurich University of Applied Sciences parti...

Background: Young adults are not considered a risk group, but the public health response to COVID-19 impacts all citizens. We investigated the impact on young adults’ and their adherence to containment measures addressing potential gender differences. Methods: In April 2020 12 341 students of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences were invited...

Purpose: The COVID-19 lockdown interrupted normal daily activities, which may have led to an increase in sedentary behavior (Castelnuovo et al., 2020). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the level of physical activity among Swiss office workers. Methods: Office workers from two Swiss organizations, ag...

Background: COVID-19 containment measures and the uncertainties associated with the pandemic may have contributed to changes in mental health risks and mental health problems in university students. Due to the high burden of the disease, depression is of particular concern. However, knowledge about the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Swiss un...

The aim of the study was to analyse, by means of a logistic regression model, the use of respite care by family members who care for an elderly person living at home. Of 243 family members, 158 took respite care, 68 did not and 17 provided no information. Demographics, preparedness (willingness to provide care), mutuality (sense of togetherness) an...

Background: Changing addictive behavior is a complex process with high demands on motivation. The Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change provides a theoretical frame-work for explaining and predicting behavioral change, although its predictive value for addiction is somewhat inconsistent. Objective: The aim of the present study is to extend the...

University students were confronted with abrupt changes to their daily lives by the COVID-19 lock-down. We investigated Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7) and anxiety levels, and the association between perceived impact on well-being, studies, and daily lives and anxiety levels, adjusted for gender, age, social class and affiliation. Earl...

Chronische Krankheiten und Behinderungen sind im Kindes- und Jugendalter nicht selten. Betroffene sind vielfältigen Herausforderungen und Gesundheitsrisiken ausgesetzt. Dieser Bericht widmet sich der Epidemiologie, der spezifischen Gesundheitsversorgung und nationalen Strategien zu Kindern, Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen mit chronischen Krankh...

Background: High-intensity donation is a risk factor for iron deficiency in blood donors. Interdonation intervals for whole blood (WB) donation and double unit red blood cell apheresis (2RBC) vary among countries. We retrospectively evaluated the course of haemoglobin (Hb) and ferritin values in men regularly donating WB 4 times a year or 2RBC twi...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Background: Non-specific neck pain and headache are major economic and individual burden in office-workers. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a multi-component intervention combining workstation ergonomics, health promotion information group workshops, neck exercises, and an app to enhance intervention adherence to assess possi...

Background There is growing evidence that patients with functional decline are at increased risk of readmission, mortality and institutionalization. Instruments to measure the status of self-care could provide important information for efficient care planning. The widely used Self Care Index serves as an indicator for the severity of nursing depend...

Die Befragung sollte die Frage nach der Verankerung der allgemeinen Palliative Care in der stationären Langzeitpflege (Pflegeheime) beantworten. Grundsätzlich kann von einer ausgeprägten konzeptuellen Verankerung von Palliative Care in den Heimen ausgegangen werden. Bei 61.9% (565 von 913) der Befragten ist Palliative Care im Leitbild der Organisat...

Background: Serum ferritin (SF) measurements in whole blood (WB) donors demonstrated that female sex and intensity of donation are major risk factors for iron deficiency. Approximately 200 mL red blood cells (RBC) and 200–240 mg iron are lost with WB donation. Double unit RBC (2RBC) collections of 360 mL (ca. 40 mL less than the RBC amount of two W...

Background: Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) are well-established immunodiagnostic tests for tuberculosis (TB) in adults. In children these tests are associated with higher rates of false-negative and indeterminate results. Age is presumed to be one factor influencing cytokine release and therefore test performance. The aim of this study was...

Background: Fear of dental care prevents dental cleaning behavior and increases the prevalence of dental caries. This study was conducted to determine the effect of Trans-Theoretical Model constructs and fear of dental care on the dental cleaning behavior of students. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in Sanandaj ci...

Study design: Cross-sectional. Objective: We quantified fatty infiltration (FI) geography of the lumbar spine to identify whether demographics, temporal low back pain (LBP), and disability influence FI patterns. Summary of background data: Lumbar paravertebral muscle FI has been associated with age, sex, LBP, and disability; yet, FI accumulati...

Background: Low back pain (LBP) and neck pain (NP) are of considerable socioeconomic burden. Considering the escalating demand on health services that LBP and NP have globally, they represent an arguably unsustainable drain on resources with the projected increased demand secondary to an ageing population. Identifying populations at risk for LBP an...

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potential curative treatment option for patients with malignant and non-malignant diseases. Matching for HLA-class I and II is currently standard practice in HSCT and improved HLA-typing through molecular techniques has eventually improved transplant outcome. HLA-antibodies are antibodi...

Purpose: Fatty infiltration (FI) is a feature of degenerating muscle that predominates in the low lumbar spine, associates with pain, and is confounded by age, spinal degeneration, and curvature. We determined rates for decline of lumbar muscle quality according to ethnicity, muscle, and spinal level in asymptomatic subjects. Methods: Cross-sect...

Objectives: Our study aimed to describe temporal changes in self-rated health status (SRH) from 1997 to 2012 in adults aged 25 to 84 residing in Switzerland with a view to identifying groups at risk for declining health. Study design: Secondary analysis of population-based cross-sectional health surveys. Methods: Data were collected from the cross-...

Background: Ethnicities differ in prevalence of blood groups and antigens. Substantial donor-recipient mismatch within mixed-ethnic societies may render certain recipients at higher risk for alloimmunization. Data regarding antigen distribution within Switzerland by ethnicity is limited. We examined immigration patterns against the distribution of...

Ein gesunder Ernährungsstil trägt dazu bei, das Morbiditäts- und Mortalitätsrisiko zu senken. Ernährungsgewohnheiten können sich jedoch zwischen gesellschaftlichen Gruppen erheblich unterscheiden, nicht zuletzt zwischen Immigranten und Einheimischen. Die Identifikation von besonders vulnerablen Gruppen ist daher notwendig, um Gesundheitsförderungs-...

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Background It is estimated that 19 to 83% of people with dementia suffer from pain that is inadequately treated in the last months of life. A large number of healthcare workers who care for these people in nursing homes lack appropriate expertise and may therefore not always recognise, assess and treat pain in those with dementia who have complex p...

According to many textbooks, iron deficiency (ID) is associated with reactive thrombocytosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the correlation between serum ferritin levels and platelet counts in a large cohort of healthy blood donors. We included all whole blood and apheresis donors aged 18 years or older with at least one ferritin measureme...

Background: Data on blood donor status obtained from general surveys and health interview surveys have been widely used. However, the integrity of data on self-reported blood donor status from surveys may be threatened by sampling and non-sampling error. Our study aimed to compare self-reported blood donors (including one-time as well as regular do...

Background. Several studies have raised concerns that future demand for blood products may not be met. The ageing of the general population and the fact that a large proportion of blood products is transfused to elderly patients has been identified as an important driver of blood shortages. The aim of this study was to collect, for the first time,...

Background The spinal column including its vertebrae and disks has been well examined and extensively reported in relation to age-aggregated degeneration. In contrast, paravertebral muscles are poorly represented in describing normative degeneration. Increasing evidence points to the importance of paravertebral muscle quality in low back health, an...

Background To our knowledge, there are no methods allowing for quantification of the spatial distribution of lumbar paravertebral muscle fatty infiltration (FI) in the transverse plane. There is an increasing emphasis on muscle tissues as modifiable factors in lumbar spine health. Population datasets based on conventional T1-weighted (T1-W) magneti...

Introduction: Paravertebral muscles represent a promising target in personalised management of low back pain. While normative degeneration of lumbar vertebra and disks has been well-examined, only modest literature describes adjacent muscles. Aim: Compare decline rates for muscles, vertebra, and disks of the lumbar spine in asymptomatic adults to i...

Introduction: Fatty infiltration (FI) of paravertebral muscles has been associated with ageing and low back pain. Quantifiable assessment of where fat predominates in these muscles has tremendous clinical relevance. While T1-weighted MRI (T1-WI) is a common imaging modality employed globally, no established or reliable method for defining the spati...

Background: Several studies have raised concerns that the future demand for blood and blood products may not be met. The aging of the general population in Western countries and the fact that a large proportion of blood products is transfused to elderly patients has been identified as an important driver of blood shortages. The aim of this study is...

Background and Objectives: For the prevention of blood shortages, it is essential for blood banks to design and implement donor recruitment and donor retention strategies that take into account the determinants of donor return. Material and Methods: We studied the behaviour of first-time blood donors in the region of Basel, Switzerland, between 199...

Im Rahmen der gesundheitspolitischen Prioritäten des Bundesrates «Gesundheit2020» sollen koordinierte Versorgungsangebote gefördert werden. Da Patienten mit einer intensiven Inanspruchnahme von Gesundheitsleistungen potentiell am meisten von einer Koordination der Versorgung profitieren und «Koordinierte Versorgung» das Thema der zweiten Nationalen...

Background: To obtain a better understanding of factors affecting blood and blood stem cell donation behavior in Switzerland, a series of studies has been performed. In the recent study of this series, which is described here, motivators and barriers in the field of blood and blood stem cell donation were identified. Methods: Web-based survey data...

Alternative Zugriff auf den vollständigen Bericht über die Website des Bundesamtes für Gesundheit: http://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/gesundheitspolitik/07685/12512/13669/index.html?lang=de Ausgangslage im Kanton Thurgau: Im Kanton Thurgau sind zur Zeit Konzepte zur kantonalen Strategie im Bereich der psychischen Gesundheit und der Sucht in Ausarbeit...

Objective: To assess self-rated health and impairments for six large immigrant groups (Germany, Italy, Kosovo, Portugal, Serbia, Turkey) in Switzerland. Methods: We used population-based survey data from the Swiss Migrant Health Survey 2010 and the Swiss Health Survey 2007. The sample comprised permanent residents aged 17 - 64 years (n = 14,637). M...

Im internationalen Vergleich ist das schweizerische Gesundheitswesen relativ teuer, erbringt aber auch qualitative gute Leistungen und sehr gute Ergebnisse. Genügend viele hochqualifizierte Gesundheitsfachleute arbeiten zur hohen Zufriedenheit von Patienten/innen und Klienten/innen im Schweizer Versorgungssystem. Das Problem liegt in der Zukunft: z...

Es muss davon ausgegangen werden, dass die Zahl der Blutspendenden aufgrund der demografischen Alterung, zusätzlicher Ausschlusskriterien und verbesserter Screening-Verfahren zukünftig sinken wird. Im Bereich der Blutstammzellspende sieht die Situation anders aus: die Zahl der Spenderinnen und Spender hat in den letzten Jahren massiv zugenommen. Gr...

The aim of this study is to compare individual characteristics associated with blood donation in the German and Swiss population between 1994 and 2010. Population-based survey data from the Eurobarometer 1994 and 2009, the Swiss Health Survey 1997, and the Swiss Blood Donation Survey 2010 were used to compare age-adjusted percentages of German and...

Background: Unit non-response occurs in sample surveys when a target subject does not respond to a survey. Potential implications are decreased power, increased standard error, and non-response bias. The objective of this study was to assess the factors associated with participation in a written survey (MSHS) of subjects who had previously particip...

We assessed the risk of overweight and obesity for six large migrant groups in Switzerland. We used population-based survey data form the Swiss Migrant Health Survey 2010 and the Swiss Health Survey 2007. The sample comprised permanent residents aged 17 - 64 years (n = 14,637). Multivariate logistic regressions have been used to estimate odds ratio...

Objective: To assess the relative risk of low daily fruit and vegetable consumption for six large migrant groups in Switzerland. Design: Cross-sectional health survey carried out 2007 (Swiss Health Survey) and 2010 (Swiss Migrant Health Survey) in Switzerland. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to estimate relative risk rates (RRR)...