[Mental health in primary care: a bibliometric study].

OBJECTIVE: The quantification and analysis of the studies published in the journal Atención Primaria on mental health since it first came out up to the present.

DESIGN: A descriptive study based on the review of the journal's tables of contents.

SETTING: All the studies published in the journal between 1984 and 1995.

MAIN RESULTS: A total of 151 studies on themes connected with mental health have been published since the journal first came out. Most belonged to the sections "Original articles" (57), "Short reports" (17) and "Letters to the editor" (39). Many of the studies concerned disorders arising from substance abuse (76, of which 32 deal with alcohol and 37 tobacco dependency). Only 31 studies dealing with other mental disorders were found. Among these, disorders as important as affective and demential disorders only had three articles each. The proportion of studies was similar in different years.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite the importance of mental disorders in primary health care, very few studies on this question have appeared in the journal Atención Primaria, and even fewer if anecdotical and administrative articles are excluded. It is to be hoped that, in the future, interest in mental health and the publication of articles on this question will increase.