The relationship between research publications in two leading geriatric psychiatry journals and elderly population size, socio-economic status and markers of mental health care.

摘要

The proportion of the elderly (aged 65+years) in the general population is increasing in most countries (Shah and MacKenzie, 2007). The two most common mental disorders in the elderly are dementia and depression. The number of people affected by them will increase worldwide (Shah, 1992a; 1992b) because the prevalence of dementia doubles every 5.1 years after the age of 60 (Jorm et at, 1987; Hofman etal, 1991) and prevalence rates of up to 15% have been reported for depression in the elderly (Shah, 1992a; 1992b). The proportion of elderly in the general population is increasing most rapidly in low and middle income (LMI) countries (Jacob and Ganguli, 2007; Shah and MacKenzie, 2007). High quality, locally acquired research data are needed for planning geriatric psychiatric services in such countries (Jacob and Ganguli, 2007).