{
  "abstract": "Stroke remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Germany and worldwide. Within this position paper by the Commission Health Services Research and Quality Assurance of the German Stroke Society, we summarize current data on stroke epidemiology, healthcare delivery, and quality assurance of stroke in Germany, identify evidence and knowledge gaps across the stroke care pathway, and derive priorities for future health services research and quality assurance. Based on registry and routine administrative data, approximately 253,000 incident and recurrent strokes were estimated to occur in Germany in 2023. Although age-standardized stroke mortality rates had declined substantially since the 1980s, this trend has reached a plateau since 2018. Acute care is predominantly administered in certified stroke units, characterized by high process and outcome quality. However, areas for improvement remain in post-acute care and in structured outpatient aftercare, particularly regarding appropriate care for patients with persistent functional impairments and unmet needs. Future research priorities include for example the utilization of real-world data to document long-term outcomes, the expansion of quality assurance to specific entities such as subarachnoid hemorrhage, and the evaluation of telemedical frameworks in pre-hospital settings. Systematic implementation of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in research and clinical practice could facilitate the identification of unmet needs and the development of patient-centered care models. In light of recent legislative advancements (e.g., the Health Data Use Act, European Health Data Space) and technological innovations (e.g., AI-driven applications), new opportunities are emerging to bolster health services research and further optimize the management of stroke patients.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. wiegand_f1@ukw.de.",
    "Institute for medical Data Science, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. wiegand_f1@ukw.de.",
    "DRG Market, Osnabrück, Germany.",
    "German Stroke Society, Berlin, Germany.",
    "Department of Neurology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.",
    "Praxis für Nervenheilkunde, Offenbach, Germany.",
    "Rhön Klinikum, Campus Bad Neustadt, Bad Neustadt an der Saale, Germany.",
    "Interdisciplinary Center for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and Public Health (IZPH), Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.",
    "Department of Neurology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.",
    "Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.",
    "Department of Neurology, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.",
    "University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.",
    "Klinikum Fulda, University Medicine Marburg - Campus Fulda, Fulda, Germany.",
    "Neurologische Klinik, SRH Gesundheitszentrum, Bad Wimpfen, Germany.",
    "Neurologische Klinik, Klinikum der Stadt Ludwigshafen, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany.",
    "Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Gießen, Gießen, Germany.",
    "BDH-Klinik Braunfels, Braunfels, Germany.",
    "Department of Neurology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.",
    "Stiftung Deutsche Schlaganfall-Hilfe, Eschborn, Germany.",
    "Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Qualitätssicherung Hessen, Eschborn, Germany.",
    "Institute for medical Data Science, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany."
  ],
  "article_type": "review article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 19,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Flora Noelle Wiegand",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9792-8400"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Dirk Bartig",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2805-8912"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jürgen Faiss",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-2719-390X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Christoph Gumbinger",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6137-1169"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Stephen Kaendler",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8571-9265"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Tobias Knieß",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-6347-8909"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Peter Kolominsky-Rabas",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7168-058X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Felipe A Montellano",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9438-0854"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Anne Lieb",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-0460-172X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Tobias Neumann-Haefelin",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8292-7341"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13,
        14
      ],
      "name": "Christopher Jan Schwarzbach",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3539-3345"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Hassan Soda",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0953-2284"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        15
      ],
      "name": "Marco Stein",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8292-6207"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        16
      ],
      "name": "Inga Sünkeler"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        17
      ],
      "name": "Götz Thomalla",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4785-1449"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        18
      ],
      "name": "Markus Wagner",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-6625-787X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        19
      ],
      "name": "Björn Misselwitz",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4612-815X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        20
      ],
      "name": "Peter Heuschmann",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2681-3515"
    },
    {
      "name": "Commission Health Services Research and Quality Assurance of the German Stroke Society (“Deutsche Schlaganfall Gesellschaft, DSG”)"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9n6sh5c62ybb8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1186/s42466-026-00541-0",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13723099",
  "id": "9n6sh5c62ybb8",
  "issns": [
    "2524-3489"
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  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963585",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Position Statement"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2713|Acute Ischemic Stroke Management"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224896880",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13723099?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13723099",
  "pmid": "42963585",
  "published": "2026-10-30",
  "publisher": "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurologie e.V.",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9n6sh5c62ybb8.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T03:21:21Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42963585",
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      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963585"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T12:21:46Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13723099",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s42466-026-00541-0"
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  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2713|Acute Ischemic Stroke Management",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Stroke care in Germany: evidence gaps and priorities for health services research and quality assurance.",
  "title_text": "Stroke care in Germany: evidence gaps and priorities for health services research and quality assurance.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-04T12:21:46Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9n6sh5c62ybb8",
  "venue": "Neurological research and practice",
  "versions": []
}