Medizinischen Informatik, Statistik und Dokumentation

Research focus on biostatistics and clinical studies

PI: Andrea Berghold

Focus: The core competence of the team concentrates on the application and further development of statistical methods in medicine. The collaboration covers the entire spectrum of medical specialities, including clinical therapy studies, diagnostic and prognostic studies, observational and evaluation studies, systematic reviews, clinical registries, and genetic studies. Our activities towards the advancement and evaluation of biostatistical methods are motivated by application-related questions and focus on, among others, randomisation procedures, balancing scores and the use of mathematical models for study design, and the analysis of infectious diseases.

Network: The team works closely together with most of the clinics, centres, and institutes of the Medical University of Graz. Likewise, it benefits from an excellent methodological and professional collaboration with the colleagues at our national partner institutes, namely Graz University of Technology, the Medical University of Vienna and the Medical University of Innsbruck, and internationally with the University of Heidelberg, the BIPS Bremen, the University of Antwerp and others. Furthermore, there are co-operations with various health care institutions, such as ÖGK, GÖG, Hanusch-Krankenhaus, Kepler Universitätsklinikum GmbH, and the FH Joanneum.

Projects

Clinical Trials

  • The team is involved in various clinical trials, which are conducted both internally and with external partners. The focus is on selecting an adequate study design, determining sample sizes, selecting the randomization procedure, and statistical analysis. The clinical trials' planning, execution, and evaluation are quality controlled (within the established QM system according to ISO 9001:2015).
  • Duration: Ongoing
  • Funded by: Med Uni Graz, FWF, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany)
  • Project partners: University clinics and others

BKFP - Medical Evaluation

  • The Institute of Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation has been responsible for the medical evaluation of the Austrian Breast Cancer Early Detection Program since 2014. This includes periodic feedback reports to various project participants and their further development, as well as addressing research questions from this topic area.
  • Duration: since 2014
  • Funded by: Austrian Health Insurance Fund
  • Project partners: Austrian Medical Association (ÖAK), Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG), Austrian Society for Quality Assurance & Quality Management in Medicine GmbH (ÖQMed), program participating physicians, institutes and hospitals.

DMP - Evaluation

  • Disease management programs such as „Therapie aktiv – Diabetes im Griff“ aim to prevent or at least delay typical sequelae and diseases by providing continuous and evidence-based care for chronically ill individuals. We conduct population-based retrospective cohort studies using a propensity score matched control group design to investigate the extent to which the goals are met within the program. These studies are based on routine health insurance data.
  • Duration: 2013-2020
  • Funded by: Austrian Health Insurance Fund

Principal Investigator

Andrea Berghold 
T: +43 316 385 13201