[Demographic change in psychiatry and psychotherapy--relevance of the age-relation]

The demographic change will lead to new challenges for the German social and health system in the near future, because it will be accompanied with a large increase of gerontopsychiatric disorders, such as dementia or depression. Age as socio-demographic variable is of high impact in psychiatric and psychotherapeutic research. We aimed to analyze the use of age as sample characteristic or explanatory variable in all publications of the journals "Psychotherapeut" and "Psychiatrische Praxis" in 2007 and 2008. Furthermore, we examined the inclusion of age groups addressed by studies to evaluate the representation of old age studies in German general psychiatric and psychotherapeutic journals. Most studies used age as sample characteristic, but not as explanatory variable in additional analyses. 10 percent of studies addressed old age subjects, especially early detection and diagnosis of dementia. In view of the future population ageing and the associated increasing relevance of mental disorders in old age, more effort in research and publication related to prevention and treatment of mental disorders in old age is required.