Department of Geriatrics

Inselspital Bern

The Department provides integrated medical services for older people in acute care, rehabilitation, and long-term care settings to ensure and promote independence and quality of life. The specific clinical services include acute care at the Inselspital and inpatient rehabilitation and long-term care at the hospital of Belp.

To the Inselspital website

Profile

  • The research group led by PD Dr. Anna Eggimann in the area of sarcopenia, muscle health, geriatric rehabilitation, geriatric models of care, and reframing aging
  • Undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate education in geriatric medicine

External Partners

University of Bern, BESAS Siloah, University Hospital and University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, University of Basel, Felix Platter Spital, University and University Hospital of Geneva

Grants

  • FILMED (Förderung innovativer Lehre Medizin) 2025 (PD Dr. Anna Eggimann)
  • Age-Stiftung 2025 (PD Dr. Anna Eggimann)
  • Krebsliga 2025 (PD Dr. Anna Eggimann)

Highlights 2025

Reframing aging – an educational intervention on communication for future healthcare professionals

Combating ageism is one of the key global strategies set by the WHO until 2030. This campaign is based on evidence showing that negative perceptions of aging adversely affect the psychological and physical health, as well as the overall well-being, of both individuals and society.

Overall, we aim to reframe aging by implementing an educational intervention on communication for medical students promoting positive and realistic perceptions of aging. Specifically, the program will address competencies in the following three areas:
1.         Develop critical awareness and practice self-reflection regarding how we think (stereotypes), feel (prejudices), and act (discrimination) about aging.
2.         Raise awareness of ageism in society, including understanding its definition, prevalence, aspects, the role of language, its impact on health, and actions to combat it.
3.         Reframe communication about aging, recognizing that the way communication is framed influences how people think, feel, and act.

This interventional study is funded by a grant of the Medical Faculty at the University of Bern promoting innovative teaching programs (FILMED grant 2025, Principal investigator PD Dr. Anna K. Eggimann).

Impact of Sarcopenia Diagnosed by Point-of-Care Ultrasound on Geriatric Rehabilitation Outcomes

Sarcopenia is a highly prevalent, but frequently unrecognized disease of the muscle in older patients. In our study, 215 patients admitted to a geriatric rehabilitation hospital were screened for sarcopenia. Sarcopenia was defined as low grip strength and low muscle mass using point-of care ultrasound (POCUS). We found, that sarcopenia based on POCUS of the rectus femoris may contribute to prediction of poor rehabilitation outcomes such as functional impairment and non-home discharge. The predictive ability varied depending on the outcome and the cut-offs applied to diagnose sarcopenia implicating that it is key to reach agreement on the most valid sex-specific cut-offs for grip strength and muscle mass using POCUS to diagnose sarcopenia.

(Principal investigator: PD Dr. Anna K. Eggimann, First author Nicola Merz)

Merz et al., J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2025

Effect of vitamin D, omega-3 supplementation, or a home exercise program on muscle mass and sarcopenia: DO-HEALTH trial

This is a secondary endpoint analysis of a 3-year randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial among 2157 community-dwelling, healthy adults aged 70 + years, from 2012 to 2018 (DO-HEALTH).  We aimed to investigate the effect of daily supplemental vitamin D, omega-3s, and a thrice-weekly home exercise program, alone or in combination, on change of appendicular lean muscle mass index (ALMI) and incident sarcopenia in older adults. We found that ALMI and incidence of sarcopenia were not improved by treatment of daily 2000 IU vitamin D, daily 1 g omega-3s, or a simple home exercise program compared with control over 3 years among healthy, physically active older adults.

(Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, First author: PD Dr. Anna K. Eggimann

Eggimann et al., J Am Geriatr Soc. 2025