Change of Research Trends in Korean Geriatric Psychiatry

Kim, Hee Cheol

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study was performed to review the change of research trends and to suggest the mode of future development in the field of Korean geriatric psychiatry by analyzing the titles of Korean medical articles associated with geriatric psychiatry.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Using medical literature searching site on the internet, the articles published between 1994 and 2003 associated with geriatric psychiatry were examined. The articles completed by non-psychiatric researchers were excluded from this analysis. The titles of articles examined were categorized according to the textbook's index of Korean geriatric psychiatry. Domestic materials published in international journals between 1994 and 2003 were also categorized using the same method.
RESULTS
Overall, 283 articles were published in the domestic and international journals. The number of articles was abruptly increased after the year of first publishment of the official journal of Korean Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (Journal of Korean Geriatric Psychiatry, JKGP). The number of articles of domestic materials published in international journals was remarkably increased since 2001. The most frequent topic area in the journals was 'psychiatric disorders' area and the next was 'diagnosis and evaluation' area. In the topic of 'basic science' area, epidemiologic aspect was most frequently studied and was followed by genetic aspect. In the topic of 'diagnosis and evaluation' area, evaluation of neurocognitive function and psychiatric evaluation were more active than medical and neurological evaluations. In the topic of 'psychiatric disorder' area, dementia research was extremely active and mood disorder research was also active. In the topic of 'treatment' area, pharmacotherapy research was more active than psychotherapy research. Types of the JKGP articles published in 2003 were review articles in 52.6%, original articles in 31.6%, and case reports in 15.8%.
CONCLUSION
The author suggests the followings through review of previous published articles:1) researches in various areas of psychiatric disorders and nationwide multi-center studies are needed, 2) research interests in sociocultural and psychological aspects as well as biological aspects are also needed, and 3) the proportion of original articles in the journal should be increased for quality improvement of the official journal of Korean Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.