Health policy for the aged. We don't study the right people.

A review of articles on aging published during one year in seven major U.S. journals in the fields of general medicine, public health and gerontology showed that only a minority of studies took into consideration the factual attributes of the population. Only 53% of the articles included any basic demographic information, usually age. Race was mentioned in 37%, but only 3% studied blacks or Hispanics; socioeconomic status was given in 25%, marital status in 9%, and education in 19%. Regardless of whether demographic factors were detailed in the description of the study, they were rarely used in the analysis. We conclude that information obtained in the course of studies of the elderly may not reflect the actual needs of this population group which must be recognized as heterogeneous. More specific and refined data are needed to set priorities and make policy decisions.