Deutsches Ärzteblatt International—the German Medical Association’s official international science journal—is a weekly, peer-reviewed, open-access online journal of clinical medicine and public health.

Deutsches Ärzteblatt International is indexed in

MEDLINE, PubMed Central, Science Citation Index, EMBASE, Scopus, and PsycINFO. In addition, the journal is listed in Carelit, CINAHL, Compendex, DOAJ, EMNursing, GEOBASE, HINARI, Index Copernicus, and Medpilot.

Recently published case series have shown encouraging results of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder, depressive disorders, and Tourette syndrome. Jens Kuhn (University of Cologne) and Theo P J Gründer (Max Planck Institute, Cologne) and their co-authors provide an introduction to the method. [Fulltext]

Current health care is not as safe as it should be. In Germany alone, about 17,000 deaths per year are estimated to be due to preventable adverse events. Barbara Hoffmann and Julia Rohe explain the reasons for adverse events, as well as measures to ensure better patient safety. [Fulltext]

Five to ten percent of children is regularly absent from schools in Germany. A considerable proportion of these children suffer from mental health problems. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Martin Knollmann and colleagues explain the causes of school avoidance and describe measures to tackle the problem. [Fulltext]

Social status is intimately linked with health-related risk factors. Thomas Lampert of the Robert Koch Insti­tute (RKI) in Berlin inquires to what extent smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity are associated with social status. The study is based on data from the RKI’s Telephone Health Survey. [Fulltext]

A weekly online journal of clinical medicine and public health.