Priyanka R. Dharampuriya, Neha Singh, Susan L. Abend
1 DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Knoxville, TN, USA, 2 The Right Care Now Project, Inc., Westborough, MA, USA, 3 eClinical Works, LLC, Westborough, MA, USA
Abstract
Background: Persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) suffer from stark, well‑documented health and healthcare disparities, despite data indicating that the majority see a healthcare provider at least annually. Multiple surveys have indicated that over 90% of physicians feel they have inadequate knowledge and skill in caring for those with IDD. This has been recognized as a key barrier to health equity. Objective: To evaluate the content of high‑impact clinical literature for a potential cause of clinician knowledge deficits. Methods: We performed a bibliometric analysis of publications within major, high‑impact general, and specialty clinical journals from 1946 to 2020 to determine the relative frequency of publications regarding IDD and publication rate. Results: We observed a significant decline in articles regarding IDD over the past 20 years within high‑impact general medical journals, and a significant decline over the past 15 years within high‑impact, specialty society‑published journals of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neurology.