Omaña Humberto, Twum-Ampofo Winifred, Hunter Susan W
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
McCormick Dementia Research, London, Ontario, Canada.
J Geriatr Phys Ther. 2024 Dec 26. doi: 10.1519/JPT.0000000000000437.
Global estimates forecast an increase in the number of people living with dementia (PLWD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Physiotherapists play an important role in the delivery of care to PLWD or MCI; however, physiotherapists report less confidence when working with PLWD or MCI, citing limited educational opportunities. Our scoping review sought to quantify and assess the type of research published in physiotherapy journals related to these groups of people.
Fifteen journals were selected based on global physiotherapy representation, indexing, and online accessibility of archives. Extraction of all articles published within a decade (2011-2021) for the selected journals was completed. Inclusion criteria: (1) research reports, reviews, case studies, or expert opinion pieces related to PLWD or MCI and (2) published in English. Each article was categorized by type of article, clinical setting, type of dementia, physiotherapy focus, and Sackett's system of hierarchy of evidence. An analysis of trends over time and a bibliometric assessment of research impact were performed.
Of 11 091 articles identified, 67 were included. The most common country of origin was the United States (38.8%). Articles were mainly research reports (70.1%), from a community-dwelling setting (50.8%), with a combined physiotherapy focus (28.4%), and a level IV (37.3%) of hierarchy of evidence. Close to half of studies did not identify the underlying dementia type (43.3%, n = 29), followed by people living with Alzheimer's dementia (28.4%, n = 19), combined groups of PLWD or MCI (20.9%, n = 14), and individuals with only MCI (7.5%, n = 5). Six articles on average related to PLWD or MCI were published annually (32.7 citation per article), and no growing trend was observed.
Few articles published in prominent physiotherapy journals over the last decade were related to PLWD or MCI. Publication trends remained unchanged, and publication origins were from the Americas which impacts generalizability. Physiotherapists should attain complementary information on care for PLWD or MCI through more general rehabilitation journals. Physiotherapy journals should seek to promote research related to PLWD or MCI through different avenues (eg, special issues) as increased information is needed for clinicians to feel confident in providing informed care.
全球估计预测，患有痴呆症（PLWD）或轻度认知障碍（MCI）的人数将会增加。物理治疗师在为PLWD或MCI患者提供护理方面发挥着重要作用；然而，物理治疗师表示，在与PLWD或MCI患者合作时信心不足，理由是教育机会有限。我们的范围综述旨在量化和评估物理治疗学期刊上发表的与这些人群相关的研究类型。
根据全球物理治疗领域的代表性、索引情况以及档案的在线可获取性，选择了15种期刊。完成了对所选期刊在十年内（2011 - 2021年）发表的所有文章的提取。纳入标准：（1）与PLWD或MCI相关的研究报告、综述、案例研究或专家意见文章；（2）以英文发表。每篇文章按文章类型、临床环境、痴呆类型、物理治疗重点以及萨克特证据等级系统进行分类。进行了随时间的趋势分析和研究影响力的文献计量评估。
在识别出的11091篇文章中，有67篇被纳入。最常见的原产国是美国（38.8%）。文章主要是研究报告（70.1%），来自社区居住环境（50.8%），综合物理治疗重点（28.4%），证据等级为IV级（37.3%）。近一半的研究未明确潜在的痴呆类型（43.3%，n = 29），其次是患有阿尔茨海默病痴呆症的人（28.4%，n = 19），PLWD或MCI的综合组（20.9%，n = 14），以及仅患有MCI的个体（7.5%，n = 5）。每年平均有6篇关于PLWD或MCI的文章发表（每篇文章32.7次引用），未观察到增长趋势。
在过去十年中，著名物理治疗学期刊上发表的与PLWD或MCI相关的文章很少。发表趋势保持不变，发表来源来自美洲，这影响了研究结果的普遍性。物理治疗师应通过更通用的康复期刊获取有关PLWD或MCI护理的补充信息。物理治疗学期刊应寻求通过不同途径（如特刊）促进与PLWD或MCI相关的研究，因为临床医生需要更多信息才能自信地提供明智的护理。
