Background/Aims: With increasing diagnostic and therapeutic options of Parkinsonian syndromes (PS), evidence-based medicine clinical practice guidelines for Parkinson’s disease and related disorders have been published. This study evaluates the awareness and the knowledge of the German practice guideline for Parkinson’s disease among neurologists. Methods: The cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in 2005 in Germany on a survey of 181 neurologists in private practice. Results: 53.1% (n = 95) of the participants specified to be aware of the guideline. A low level of knowledge was reported in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for motor and nonmotor complications (including depression and dementia), and in the diagnostic features of atypical PS. Neurologists who were aware of the guideline had a significantly better knowledge of the different clinical features of idiopathic (94.7 vs. 84.3%; p = 0.023) versus nonidiopathic (88.3 vs. 77.1%; p = 0.048) PS in general, and specifically of multiple system atrophy (54.3 vs. 36.1%; p = 0.016) as well as of characteristics concerning increased daytime sleepiness (95.7 vs. 86.7%; p = 0.032). Conclusion: The awareness and the knowledge of the guideline in everyday medical practice are still limited. Future interventions for a better implementation must include strategies which are suitable to modify behavior patterns.
Individual longitudinal data are indispensable for studying the differential incidence of diseases and of possible chronic conditions, health care interventions and outcomes in the course of time, the effects of changing population structure on morbidity, the demand and use of health services, as well as the efficacy and efficiency of health care guidelines. Here, we present an up to date survey of panel studies in Germany, in so far as these are either still active or were completed only recently, and in so far as they are accessible via public use files or equivalent solutions for the scientific community. There are some health related items on existing general purpose national panel studies, but no health related representative national panel study. In addition to the well known unique potential of panel data, we demonstrate, for special populations (e. g. foreigners and people living in institutionalised settings), as well as for special items (salutogenetic potentials and preventive resources), the particular need for health related panel data in the German context.
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