[Psychiatry of the life span?--relevance of age in psychiatric research].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine to what extent studies published in two German journals took the age of their sample into consideration.


METHODS
All publications of the two journals were viewed. Only empirical research papers were included. It was then assessed whether they included information on age of the sample and, if that was the case, the studies were further categorized as only giving descriptive sample information, reporting age-specific results of dependent variables or using age as a predictor in regression analyses. Furthermore, the age range covered was assessed.


RESULTS
88 % of all studies included information on age. Of those, about half only provided descriptive information on the age of the study sample, while more than one third used the age variable as a predictor in multivariate models. Few studies reported age-specific outcomes. Main focus of research was on adult populations aged 18 to 65. Only few studies concentrated on children and adolescents.


CONCLUSIONS
In light of demographic change and age specificity of psychological disorders, it will be necessary to further differentiate and report age-specific results of psychiatric research. A change in what is considered normative aging and developmental tasks for certain age groups calls for further research in those age groups.
Universität Leipzig, Institut für Arbeits- und Sozialmedizin, Leipzig. Claudia.Sikorski@medizin.unileipzig.de
Claudia
C
Sikorski
Tom
T
Motzek
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008374:Manuscripts, Medical as Topic; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D055815:Young Adult