Sub-Project 1

As part of the first sub-project “Patient data from university medicine”, eight university hospitals, led by the Marburg site, provide data from their inpatient care – these are used for the development of the models. The clinical side provides ongoing medical and content-related support for data selection, patient selection and interpretation; data extraction and processing is carried out by the associated data integration centers; data integration is supported by the data integration sub-project.

In a further step, the outpatient data will be harmonized and made usable for comparison. The data generated here and the data generated in subprojects 3 and 55 will be compared with the cohort of the COSYCONET registry.

The inpatient and outpatient data are used to model and more precisely characterize the disease progression of various phenotypes and endotypes.

Sub-Project 2

In sub-project 2 “Statistical model for COPD and BA (Bronchial Asthma)”, the Fribourg site is taking the lead and, together with the Ulm and Hamburg sites, is focussing on

  • the automatic context annotation of medical data
  • the development of models to depict the course of the disease and
  • the development of models for predicting the risk of various events such as exacerbations that integrate longitudinal data, data from inpatients and outpatients, environmental data and biosignals.

In a continuous training and validation process, the models will be tested and optimized in the first few years so that they can be completed in 2027.

Sub-Project 3

In sub-project 3 “Data from outpatients in private practice and cross-sector longitudinal follow-up”, data from outpatients treated in university outpatient clinics (Essen, Marburg, Homburg) and other outpatient care structures (such as medical care centers (MVZ) or specialist practices) will be collected, tracked over a period of 1-2 years and extracted from the existing data structures as part of the study. In the case of university outpatient clinics, this is done via the existing data integration centers. For the affiliated MCCs (Medical Care Centers) and specialist practices, the data is extracted from the practice information systems and then merged.

Sub-Project 4

The Berlin site is leading sub-project 4 “Integration of personal health data with environmental data for secondary prevention” in the CALM-QE project network. The aim is to close a significant gap between inpatient and outpatient care, optimize personalized intervention and thus reduce the risk of inpatient admissions. A subgroup will be equipped with smartwatches or other wearables to record activity, heart rate and oxygen saturation in real time as well as data on environmental factors via other devices.

Sub-Project 5

Hanover is taking the lead in sub-project 5 “Age-specific characteristics of asthma exacerbations: a paediatric perspective”. The focus is on data analysis of paediatric asthma patients in order to map the course of asthma in children and adolescents. After extracting and integrating clinical and diagnostic outcome parameters, these will be stratified by age group in collaboration with colleagues from sub-project 2 in order to determine common and age-specific exacerbation characteristics.

In a second step, outpatient care data of selected patients from cooperating practices and university outpatient clinics of the cooperation partners will be analyzed over a period of twelve months of 12- to 18-year-old adolescents, whereby vital parameters and daily activity via smartwatches will also be integrated into the data analysis. The integration of outpatient and inpatient data as well as climate data by the data integration sub-project will ultimately make it possible to compare longitudinal courses of exacerbations in children vs. adolescents vs. adults.

Sub-Project 6

Fribourg is taking over the management of sub-project 6 “Quantitative imaging techniques in COPD exacerbations”

Firstly, patients hospitalized for acute exacerbations are identified and the extraction possibilities of the imaging data obtained from the patients are examined. The data will be homogenized and prepared for analysis. Typical imaging biomarkers for exacerbations are defined on the basis of models.

In a second step, these data are supplemented with clinical data, lung function data and prognostic data and analyzed for exploratory purposes. In addition, patients admitted for an exacerbation of COPD who have not undergone a CT scan will be identified and both groups will be compared in terms of clinical outcome.

Sub-Project 7

The Erlangen site is taking the lead in sub-project 7 “Statistical modeling and data integration”. It creates a data management plan according to FAIR criteria (“FAIR: (”Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-Usable“) – accessible in recognized archives and repositories” and updates it annually and annually. The colleagues from Fribourg are working together with the Berlin site and in coordination with the MII interoperability working group on the specification of the core dataset modules required for the project. It implements an interface for the transfer of selected outpatient care data from the cooperating practices and also coordinates the harmonized integration of the data sources required for CALM-QE at the participating data integration centers and carries out this task for its own location. The team from Freiburg provides a REDCap eCRF system for the manual collection of data elements that cannot be automatically transferred from source systems for the project. They also organize two annual projectathons with the participation of the project locations to demonstrate the implementation of sub-steps in data integration.

In this sub-project, the Berlin site is responsible for the specification of core data set modules for the omics and wearable data required in the project. The colleagues in Berlin specify and implement ETL routes for the integration of omics and wearable data at their own location and participate in the organized projectathons to demonstrate the respective implementation status.

Network Coordination – Sub-Project 8

The Marburg site maintains an overall view of the “Network Coordination” project and the progress of the individual sub-projects and supports them by, among other things, regularly providing important information, organizing meetings and creating and updating contact persons and responsibilities.

This includes internal project communication across all locations and sub-projects and promotes the flow of information and interface management between the individual areas.

Marburg also ensures external communication with other stakeholders and interested groups, e.g. via press releases, information on the Internet, direct contact with patient groups, other project groups within the MII (e.g. Module 2 Medical Devices), public events and prepares reports on the project.

You can find the direct contact persons of the respective sub-projects under the button Collaboration