Zhongguo quanke yixue (Jul 2023)

Analysis of Research Hotspots of Multiple Chronic Conditions in the Elderly in 2010-2021

  • FENG Jia, WANG Jie, YU Dan, LIU Yongheng, ZHAO Weidong, TIAN Hongyuan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.12114/j.issn.1007-9572.2023.0085
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 21
pp. 2574 – 2580

Abstract

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Background With the acceleration of population aging, multiple chronic diseases have become common in the elderly, and the research on multiple chronic diseases in the elderly is also increasing. However, few studies have been conducted to analyze its progress and hotspots. Objective To analyze the hotspots of multiple chronic diseases in the elderly at home and abroad, revealing the hotspots in frontiers research, so as to provide a reference for related researchers to track cutting-edge information. Methods The literatures related to multiple chronic diseases in the elderly were retrieved from Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, PubMed, Chinese Medical Association Journal Full-text database, and APA-PsycINFO database of the American Psychological Association with the retrieval time of 2010-2021, based on text mining technology and bibliometrics method, etc. CiteSpace 6.1.3, PASW 18, BICOMB 2.04 and other software were used to analyze and visualize the trends in number of papers published, sources, authors, institutions, keywords and other aspects of literature publication. Strategic coordinate maps were drawn to analyze research hotspots in the field. Results Finally, 9 392 literatures related to multiple chronic diseases in the elderly were involved, including 5 776 literatures in foreign language and 3 616 literatures in Chinese. The numbers of literatures related to multiple chronic diseases in the elderly both in foreign language and Chinese have increased exponentially in the past decade, with the annual growth rate of 13.27% in Chinese literature and 15.84% in foreign literature, suggesting the development stage of multiple chronic diseases in the elderly. Five mainstream research hotspots have been identified in both Chinese and foreign literatures. There are more literatures related to multiple chronic disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and respiratory diseases. The foreign literatures have focused more on the psychiatric comorbidity, followed by somatic comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and heart failure. Conclusion The analysis results shows that the field of multiple chronic diseases in the elderly is in a rapid development stage. Analysis of foreign literature shows that psychiatric comorbidity is a relatively hot topic but not mature enough, research results related to multiple chronic diseases in the elderly are abundant and diversified, but the research depth is in sufficient. Domestic literature analysis shows that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease combined with respiratory diseases in the elderly is at the core of the field, and there is a lack of studies related to psychiatric comorbidity such as depression and mutiple chronic diseases such as health situation, nursing and health care, which may become the main direction of research development in the future.

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