Each year, more than 490,000 people in Germany are diagnosed with cancer and about 230,000 people die from the disease. Estimates suggest that at least one-third of cancers are attributable to an unhealthy lifestyle and are therefore preventable. However, the potential of primary prevention is currently underutilized. For some cancers (e.g., colorectal, breast, cervical cancer), early detection measures (secondary prevention) offer the opportunity to detect the disease at a curable (pre)stage, but also in this respect, there is still need of improvement, especially with regard to the effective implementation of the measures on the population level.
The unit is focusing on the (further) development and evaluation of strategies to reduce cancer incidence and mortality in order to further exploit the potential of primary and secondary prevention of cancer. For example, using the Pharmacoepidemiologic Research Database (GePaRD), we investigate the utilization and effectiveness of mammography screening for the early detection of breast cancer and of colonoscopy screening for the early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer in Germany. For the investigation of effectiveness of these programs, we use the "target trial emulation" (TTE) approach in collaboration with the Department of Biometry and Data Management (GeTTCausal).
In addition, we are coordinating an interdepartmental project as part of the National Decade against Cancer. The aim of this project is to establish Bremen as a model region for applied cancer prevention research. We are also working on questions concerning the utilization of cancer therapeutics in real-world healthcare settings in Germany as well as on the potential of the combined use of cancer registry and health insurance data.
"Current Projects" provides examples of some of the projects carried out by the unit.
Selected Publications
- Hornschuch M, Schwarz S, Haug U. High utilization of colonoscopy and fecal occult blood testing for screening or diagnostic purposes in Germany: A longitudinal analysis. European Journal of Cancer Prevention. 2025; (Epub 2025 Feb 10).
https://doi.org/10.1097/CEJ.0000000000000956 - Schwarz S, Braitmaier M, Pox C, Kollhorst B, Didelez V, Haug U. 13-year colorectal cancer risk after lower-quality, higher-quality and no screening colonoscopy: A cohort study. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2024;176:111571.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2024.111571 - Hornschuch M, Schwarz S, Haug U. Proportion and characteristics of screen-detected and non-screen-detected colorectal cancers in Germany. Acta Oncologica. 2024;63(1):924-931.
https://doi.org/10.2340/1651-226X.2024.40234 - Schwarz S, Hornschuch M, Pox C, Haug U. Polyp detection rate and cumulative incidence of post-colonoscopy colorectal cancer in Germany. International Journal of Cancer. 2023;152(8):1547-1555.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.34375 - Heinig M, Schäfer W, Langner I, Zeeb H, Haug U. German mammography screening program: Adherence, characteristics of (non-)participants and utilization of non-screening mammography - A longitudinal analysis. BMC Public Health. 2023;23:1678.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16589-5 - Schwarz S, Hornschuch M, Pox C, Haug U. Colorectal cancer after screening colonoscopy: 10-year incidence by site and detection rate at first repeat colonoscopy. Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology. 2023;14(1):e00535.
https://doi.org/10.14309/ctg.0000000000000535 - Braitmaier M, Schwarz S, Kollhorst B, Senore C, Didelez V, Haug U. Screening colonoscopy similarly prevented distal and proximal colorectal cancer: A prospective study among 55-69-year-olds. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2022;149:118-126.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2022.05.024 - Braitmaier M, Kollhorst B, Heinig M, Langner I, Czwikla J, Heinze F, Buschmann L, Minnerup H, García-Albéniz X, Hense H-W, Karch A, Zeeb H, Haug U, Didelez V. Effectiveness of mammography screening on breast cancer mortality - A study protocol for emulation of target trials using German health claims data. Clinical Epidemiology. 2022;14:1293-1303.
https://doi.org/10.2147/CLEP.S376107 - Hornschuch M, Schwarz S, Haug U. 10-year prevalence of diagnostic and screening colonoscopy use in Germany: A claims data analysis. European Journal of Cancer Prevention. 2022;31(6):497-504.
https://doi.org/10.1097/CEJ.0000000000000736 - Schwarz S, Schäfer W, Horenkamp-Sonntag D, Liebentraut J, Haug U. Follow-up of 3 million persons undergoing colonoscopy in Germany: Utilization of repeat colonoscopies and polypectomies within 10 years. Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology. 2021;12(1):e00279. (Erratum: Schwarz S, Schäfer W, Horenkamp-Sonntag D, Liebentraut J, Haug U. Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology. 2024;15(2):e00677. http://doi.org/10.14309/ctg.0000000000000677).
https://doi.org/10.14309/ctg.0000000000000279 - Haug U, Riedel O, Cholmakow-Bodechtel C, Olsson L. First-degree relatives of cancer patients: A target group for primary prevention? A cross-sectional study. British Journal of Cancer. 2018;118(9):1255-1261.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-018-0057-2 - Haug U, Senore C, Corley D. Promises and potential pitfalls of shared decision-making in cancer screening. Gastroenterology. 2020;158(4):802-805.
https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2019.11.293
Articles with peer review
Commentaries
Current Projects
Only currently running projects or those where publications are still in preparation or those that ended less than a year ago will be shown. The entries are sorted alphabetically.
- Evaluation of the breast cancer mortality in the German Mammography Screening Program: Main study - 2nd part
- Joint Action for implementation of cancer screening programmes (EUCanScreen)
- Joint Action for the prevention of cancer and other non-communicable diseases (JA PreventNCD)
- Linking cancer registry data and health insurance data: Investigation of the acceptance by cancer patients and of the potential to describe courses of therapy and to use AI for quality control (KUKUK)
- Utilization of surveillance colonoscopy in Germany: Current status and future concepts (KOL-OPT)
Staff
Eberle, Andrea, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56962
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
eberle(at)leibniz-bips.de
Heinig, Miriam, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56881
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
heinig(at)leibniz-bips.de
Kaiser, Yvonne
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56843
kaiser(at)leibniz-bips.de
Kanbach, Josephine
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56785
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56821
kanbach(at)leibniz-bips.de
Schwarz, Sarina, Dr.
Tel.: +49 (0)421 218-56884
Fax: +49 (0)421 218-56941
sschwarz(at)leibniz-bips.de
