ÖGP Annual Conference 2025 in Linz: We were there – with a presentation, poster, and an award ceremony
From October 16 to 18, 2025, the 49th Annual Meeting of the Austrian Society for Pneumology (ÖGP) was held together with the ÖGTC at the Design Center Linz – this year under the motto “LUNGE VERNETZT” (LUNG CONNECTED). Our institute was represented with several contributions and used the conference for professional exchange and networking.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Prüller-Strasser and Prim. Dr. Ralf Harun Zwick were in Linz for our team. Ralf gave a presentation entitled “Five years after the COVID-19 outbreak: what has changed, what remains the same?” He summed up the situation as follows: the acute phase of COVID-19 is no longer as frightening, but long-term effects such as long COVID and ME/CFS continue to shape the care and everyday lives of many of those affected. Ralf highlighted what works better today—such as hygiene awareness and digital collaboration—and what remains: persistent symptoms, care needs, and new requirements for rehabilitation and aftercare. In doing so, he drew a line from the pandemic experience to the current tasks in pulmonology and rehabilitation.In the lecture session “Frailty in Pulmonology” Barbara highlighted treatment options and reversibility, focusing in particular on the role of sarcopenia and malnutrition.
We were also represented with the poster “Prevalence of ME/CFS Phenotype in Post-COVID-19 Outpatient Rehabilitation,” developed by our young researcher Ferdinand Prüfer and colleagues. Ralf presented the content on behalf of the team in Linz. The key message: Around 7% of outpatient post-COVID rehabilitation patients show an ME/CFS-like profile – more often women, often with persistent severe fatigue and lower functional gains. This underscores the importance of early identification (e.g., structured fatigue screening) and tailored rehabilitation approaches for this subgroup.
A special highlight was the presentation of the ÖGP Gender Research Award 2025 to our colleague and cooperation partner Assoc. Prof. Priv.-Doz. Dr. Alexander Kautzky, PhD, for the study “Sex differences of post-COVID patients undergoing outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation.” We congratulate him warmly on this well-deserved award. The work was carried out in collaboration with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rehabilitation Research, represented by Dr. Dietlinde Gattinger and Dr. Ralf Harun Zwick. The results show that all patients benefit from outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation, but women report persistent symptoms more often and are less likely to make a full return to everyday life—hence the need for consistently gender-sensitive rehabilitation protocols. Ralf accepted the award on Alexander’s behalf in Linz.
