The Unit 25 ”Physical Health” conducts analyses on the distribution and trends of non-communicable physical diseases and health impairments in the population, including all age groups.

The focus is on non-communicable diseases and disease-related risk factors of high public health relevance such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure and dyslipidemias, chronic respiratory diseases and allergies, but also multimorbidity and polypharmacy, cognitive and physical functioning, as well as physical symptoms and complaints.

The primary data sources are the periodically conducted population-representative studies of the nationwide health monitoring and external data. The unit is responsible for the indicators on physical health within the health monitoring and for the instruments used. In addition, in-depth epidemiological studies are carried out in collaboration with scientific partners. The results are used for health reporting, informed health policy and epidemiological research.

Tasks

• Trend analyses on morbidity (disease prevalence and disease patterns), physical and cognitive functional impairments
• Trend analyses of disease-related risk factors, e.g. blood pressure, serum cholesterol and glycosylated haemoglobin A1c as well as risk profiles, e.g. metabolic syndrome
• Risk score-based multifactorial assessments of the temporal development of the absolute risk of disease and mortality from diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease
• Selected longitudinal analyses on the individual development of risk factors/risk profiles over the life course, on the relationship between avoidable risk factors and mortality risk
• Analyses of health risks with high prevention potential in specific phases of life and development, e.g. age- and gender-specific distribution of physiological measurements and cardiometabolic risk profiles, physical and cognitive functional abilities
• Scientific management and coordination of the national diabetes surveillance