Iris Reinhard

The lockdown restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased stress levels and feelings of anxiety in the general population. Problematic usage of certain online applications is one frequent way to compensate for negative feelings and stress. The current study investigated changes of online media consumption during the lockdown in Germany. Gender and age specific differences in specific online activities were assessed. n = 3245 subjects participated in an online survey conducted between the 8th April and the 11th May 2020. Participants’ age ranged between 18 and >55 years. A considerably high percentage (71.4%) of participants reported increased online media consumption during the lockdown. Male participants were more likely to increase their consumption of gaming and erotic platforms, while female participants reported a higher increase in the engagement in social networks, information research, and video streaming than males. The findings revealed an increased usage of all online applications during the lockdown. For the clarification whether the increase might present a risk for elevated Internet-use disorders or can be regarded as a functional and time-limited phenomenon, further studies, assessing changes in these online activities after the end of the pandemic, are needed.

To benchmark outcomes of a German breast cancer network with the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results programme (SEER) of the USA from a longitudinal point of view. All women receiving primary breast cancer therapy of three hospitals in a rural district of Marburg-Biedenkopf (Germany) of time intervals 1996–1997 and 2003–2004 were used to define local benchmark objects. Data from SEER-programme contributed longitudinal benchmark objects from national level (1988–2004). All benchmark objects were compared with the time-fixed benchmark reference of SEER (2004). Stage distributions and 5-year relative survival ratios were combined to estimate standardized screening-, case-mix-, work-up-, treatment- and relative overall performance index. From the entry cohort of 877 German women, 97.7 % of the patients accounted for the institutional sample (N = 857) and 65.8 % accounted for the regional sample (N = 577). Stage distributions, relative survival ratios and indices of the German breast cancer network improved over time. Developed indices converged with SEER (2004). Effectiveness gap between one exemplary German breast cancer network and international benchmark defined by SEER has been closed. Reasons are manifold, and further research is recommended.

The objective of screening programs is to discover life threatening diseases in as many patients as early as possible and to increase the chance of survival. To be able to compare aspects of health care quality, methods are needed for benchmarking that allow comparisons on various health care levels (regional, national, and international).