Reflections from the EDA 2025 Annual Conference in Hamburg – ECGI Reporter

Author: Fatma Özge Kayhan Koçak, MD

Affiliation: University of Health Sciences, Tepecik Education and Research Hospital, İzmir, Turkiye

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From 12–14 November 2025, the European Delirium Association (EDA) gathered clinicians, researchers, and delirium advocates in the beautiful, autumn-colored city of Hamburg. As an ECGI Reporter and someone deeply engaged in delirium and geriatric care, attending was both scientifically inspiring and personally meaningful. The conference combined basic neuroscience, innovative clinical models, interdisciplinary guidelines, and the growing global movement of the Safe Brain Initiative (SBI).

EDA President Prof. Leiv Otto Watne opened the meeting, followed by a keynote from Finn Radtke, who illustrated how progress in delirium prevention requires a shift in perspective. He addressed the gap between evidence and practice, delays in guideline implementation, and the shared burden for patients and clinicians. Introducing SBI’s patient-centered precision care (PC²) model and its four-dimensional dashboard, he showed how coordinated, non-pharmacological approaches can transform postoperative brain health.

In the session “Advancing Delirium Care,” Dr. Christine Thomas presented Germany’s new interdisciplinary delirium guideline, rich in algorithms and cross-sector pathways. Prof. Başak Ceyda Meço (Türkiye) demonstrated how PC², clear communication, and consistent perioperative practices can drive improvement even in limited-resource settings. Dr. Peter Nydahl completed the session with early insights from the WDAD Success Stories initiative, emphasizing how real experiences from patients, families, and staff highlight the power of human connection in delirium care.

As a Delirium SIG member, reconnecting with EuGMS SIG colleagues, including meeting Dr. Johannes Trabert in person, was a personal highlight.

One of the most compelling talks came from Prof. Markus Hausmann, who integrated evidence on hormones, brain organization, and gender stereotypes to show how sex/gender differences arise from a complex biopsychosocial interplay.  While hormonal effects are small but consistent, stereotype threat and societal expectations can influence cognitive performance even more strongly. Media examples demonstrated how nuanced scientific results are often reduced to misleading headlines, reinforcing outdated assumptions. The key takeaway resonated strongly: sex/gender differences exist, but there are no discrete “male” or “female” brains, and, as Prof. Diane Halpern reminded us, we don’t need to be the same to be equal.

Workshops offered hands-on skills, including an SBI-based Mini-EEG Bootcamp on interpreting raw signals and recognizing artefacts. Poster sessions highlighted new findings from biomarkers to screening pathways, while the Young EDA Symposium brought fresh insights on brain stimulation, network modulation, and communication science.

The conference closed with an invitation to next year’s EDA meeting in Oslo, Norway (4–6 November 2026), promising another outstanding gathering of science, collaboration, and international engagement.

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From left to right: Fatma Özge Kayhan Koçak, Leiv Otto Watne and Sibel Çavdar at EDA 2025, in Hamburg

From left to right: Sibel Çavdar, Fatma Özge Kayhan Koçak and Johannes Trabert at EDA 2025, in Hamburg