"Famous Persons" in MEDLINE: Examination of a Medical Subject Heading

Creator(s)

Brenda R. Pfannenstiel MALS, MA, AHIP, Children's Mercy Kansas CityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1998

Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J115V17N01_02

Abstract

The "famous persons" Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) provides a unique perspective on the medical literature indexed in the Medline database. 3,745 Medline citations indexed with the term "famous persons" from 1966 through 1994 were examined. Discussions of possible diagnoses of creative artists, royalty, political leaders, and even fictional characters were a frequent preoccupation, as were assassinations. Publication dates of articles concerning a particular famous person are often clustered around an anniversary of the person's birth or death. A few famous persons account for a disproportionate number of citations.

Journal Title

Medical Reference Services Quarterly, Spring 1998; 17(1):11-23.

Volume

17

Issue

1

First Page

11

Last Page

23

MeSH Keywords

famous persons; MEDLINE; Abstracting and Indexing as Topic

Keywords

medical literature

Comments

This manuscript was published in

Medical Reference Services Quarterly, Spring 1998; 17(1):11-23. and can be found http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J115V17N01_02

Recommended Citation

Pfannenstiel, B. R. "Famous Persons" in MEDLINE: Examination of a Medical Subject Heading Medical Reference Services Quarterly, Spring 1998; 17(1):11-23. 17, 11-23 (1998).