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National Mental Health Surveillance at the Robert Koch Institute (MHS)

The RKI monitors the mental health of Germany’s population. A dedicated national Mental Health Surveillance (MHS) has been in development since 2019 and is currently being integrated into a superordinate Noncommunicable Disease Surveillance (NCD Surveillance). The establishment of the MHS has taken place in three project phases funded by the Federal Ministry of Health.

Logo Mental Health Surveillance. Source: © Robert Koch Institute

The aim of the MHS is to provide systematic and continuous reporting on a selection of core indicators of mental health in Germany’s population. Time series consisting of regular estimates for these indicators are the basis of reliable and up-to-date assessments on the state and development of the mental health of the population.

Contact: mhs@rki.de

Concepts

  • A scoping review provides an overview of public mental health indicators for adult populations used internationally. A corresponding review on child and adolescent mental health indicators is in preparation.
  • A public mental health framework comprising a set of core indicators for MHS in Germany was decided upon in a consensus building process involving national and international experts. It is a future aim to expand this set to include indicators specific to childhood and adolescence as well as old age.
  • Three strategies of MHS (regular assessments, high-frequency surveillance and continuous literature review) have been developed.

Current information: MHS Dashboard

A dashboard with monthly updates shows developments in the mental health of adults in Germany on the basis of continuously collected survey data.

Screenshot of the MHS Dashboard. Source: © Robert Koch InstituteScreenshot of the MHS Dashboard

More information on methods and descriptions as well as discussion of results are available in the form of quarterly reports and peer-reviewed publications:

Further findings

  • Developments in the national diagnostic prevalence of mental disorders 2012-2021 were analysed in collaboration with the Central Research Institute of Ambulatory Health Care in Germany (“Zentralinstitut für die kassenärztliche Versorgung in Deutschland (Zi)”). A paper detailing these results was submitted for publication. A previous publication provides results on trends in ambulatory depression diagnoses 2009-2017.
  • Please see the KIDA Study for results on the development of select indicators of child and adolescent mental health.
  • Multiple reviews collate findings on changes in population mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. A rapid review summarizes findings for the adult population based on studies published before August 1st, 2022. Throughout 2022, a continuous literature review with monthly reports was conducted; a publication is in preparation. A rapid review on findings for children and adolescents based on studies published before November 20th, 2021 was also conducted by the RKI’s Mental Health Unit.
  • The Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale was validated in a German nationally representative sample for the purpose of future use within the MHS. General population reference values will be provided shortly.

Date: 09.10.2023

Publications

  • Walther L, Mauz E, Hölling H, Thom J (2023): Mental Health Surveillance in Deutschland
    Public Health Forum 31 (3): 149-151. DOI: 10.1515/pubhef-2023-0072. more

  • Junker S, Damerow S, Walther L, Mauz E (2023): Development of a prototype for high-frequency mental health surveillance in Germany: data infrastructure and statistical methods.
    Front Public Health. (11): 1208515. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1208515. more

  • Walther, Lena; Junker, Stephan; Thom, Julia; Hölling, Heike; Mauz, Elvira (2023): Hochfrequente Surveillance von Indikatoren psychischer Gesundheit in der erwachsenen Bevölkerung in Deutschland – Entwicklungen von 2022–2023 [High-frequency surveillance of mental health indicators in the adult population of Germany: trends from 2022 to 2023].
    Dtsch Arztebl 2023: DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.m2023.0180. more

  • Thom J, Walther L, Eicher S, Hölling H, Junker S, Peitz D, Wilhelm J, Mauz E (2023): Mental Health Surveillance am Robert Koch-Institut – Strategien zur Beobachtung der psychischen Gesundheit der Bevölkerung [Mental health surveillance at the Robert Koch Institute - strategies for monitoring the mental health of the population].
    Bundesgesundheitsbl: Published online: 27 February 2023. doi: 10.1007/s00103-023-03678-4. more

  • Mauz E, Walther L, Junker S, Kersjes C, Damerow S, Eicher S, Hölling H, Müters S, Peitz D, Schnitzer S, Thom J (2023): Time trends in mental health indicators in Germany's adult population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Front. Public Health 11: 23. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1065938. more

  • Schlump C, Thom J, Boender TS, Wagner B, Diercke M, Kocher T, Ullrich A, Grabenhenrich L, Greiner F, Zöllner R, Mauz E, Schranz M (2022; Online publiziert: 10. Dezember 2021): Nutzung von Routinedaten aus Notaufnahmen zur Surveillance von Suizidversuchen und psychiatrischen Notfällen. [Using emergency department routine data for the surveillance of suicide attempts and psychiatric emergencies.]
    Bundesgesundheitsbl 65 (1): 30–39. doi: 10.1007/s00103-021-03467-x. more

  • Peitz D, Kersjes C, Thom J, Hölling H, Mauz E (2021): Indicators for public mental health: a scoping review.
    Front. Public Health 9: 714497. Epub Sep 27. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.714497. more

  • Mauz E, Eicher S, Peitz D, Junker S, Hölling H, Thom J (2021): Psychische Gesundheit der erwachsenen Bevölkerung in Deutschland während der COVID-19-Pandemie. Ein Rapid-Review. [Mental health of the adult population in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rapid Review].
    J. Health Monitoring 6 (S7): 2–65. Epub Nov 17. doi: 10.25646/9537. more

  • Thom J, Mauz E, Peitz D, Kersjes C, Aichberger M, Harald Baumeister H, Anke Bramesfeld A, Daszkowski J, Eichhorn T, Gaebel W, Härter M, Jacobi F, Kuhn J, Lindert J, Margraf J, Melchior H, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Nebe A, Orpana H, Peth J, Reininghaus U, Riedel-Heller S, Rose U, Schomerus G, Schuler D, von Rüden U, Hölling H (2021): Aufbau einer Mental Health Surveillance in Deutschland: Entwicklung von Rahmenkonzept und Indikatorenset. [Establishing a Mental Health Surveillance in Germany: Development of a framework concept and indicator set].
    J. Health Monitoring 6 (4): 34–63. doi: 10.25646/8861. more

  • Thom J, Peitz D, Kersjes C, Hölling H, Mauz E (2020): Towards the development of a National Mental Health Surveillance System in Germany. Proceedings of the International Workshop ‘Integration of International Expertise in the Development of a Mental Health Surveillance System in Germany’: Berlin, Germany. 28-29 November 2019.
    BMC Proc. 14 (Suppl. 4): 4. Epub May 4. doi: 10.1186/s12919-020-00186-0. more

  • Steffen A, Thom J et al. (2020): Trends in prevalence of depression in Germany between 2009 and 2017 based on nationwide ambulatory claims data.
    J. Affect. Disord. 271: 239‒247. Epub Apr 18. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.082. more