New Heat Indicator on the RKI Dashboard: AKTIN Infrastructure in Magdeburg and Aachen Provides a Key Data Source for Heat-Related Emergencies
Routine data from German emergency rooms will enable real-time monitoring of the health consequences of extreme heat in the future
Extreme heat poses a growing health burden. Among other things, it can lead to heatstroke, sunstroke, circulatory problems, and fluid imbalance, as well as exacerbate existing medical conditions. To identify these effects early and better assess developments, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is expanding its emergency department surveillance to include a heat indicator, which will now also highlight heat-related visits to the emergency department.
The data for this is provided by the AKTIN platform, which was developed at the universities of Magdeburg and Aachen and expanded as part of the University Medicine Network (NUM). Through this infrastructure, routine data from participating emergency departments is transmitted daily to the RKI. Since 2020, the syndromic surveillance system established in collaboration with the RKI has made it possible to monitor trends in emergency care based on data from voluntarily participating hospitals.
The new heat indicator was developed as part of the “KlimaNot” research project at Magdeburg University Medical Center and expands emergency department surveillance—which has previously focused primarily on infectious diseases—to include an important area: the monitoring of noncommunicable, climate-sensitive health phenomena.
The data collected via the AKTIN infrastructure can help to better assess risks and tailor public health measures more effectively.
Further information on the dashboard is available here.
About the University Medicine Network (NUM) and AKTIN
The University Medicine Network (NUM) connects the 37 German university medical centers in joint research projects and develops sustainable research infrastructures for the cross-site use of medical data. One of these infrastructures is AKTIN—the platform for acute, intensive, and emergency medicine. It provides access to structured, anonymized routine data from emergency departments for research, quality management, and surveillance projects. For more information, visit this website.
Scientific Contact
Dr. Wiebke Schirrmeister, Head of the AKTIN Office, Institute for Public Health in Acute Medicine (IPHAM) at Magdeburg University Medical Center, wiebke.schirrmeister@med.ovgu.de, office@aktin.org