An Overview of Research in the Field of Elderly Health: Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Aim: The proportion of the elderly population in the world continues to increase rapidly, and many health problems arise in old age. This study aims to provide information for future research by conducting a bibliometric analysis of research on elderly health. Materials and Methods: Data on works published in the Web of Science (WoS) database on elderly health until the end of 2022 were obtained. A total of 1,031 works from different disciplines were accessed and analyzed. The VOSviewer 1.6.18 program and Excel Office package program were used for the data analysis. The distribution of the works by year, citation analysis of the works, the country where the research was conducted, the institution conducting the research, and the organizations that provided the most funding were compared. Results: It was determined that the first work on elderly health was published in 1983, the number of publications increased every year after 2005, and most publications were published in 2022 (f = 133). It was determined that the most frequently used keywords were “elderly health” (f = 130), the most publications were in China (265), the country with the highest citation density was the United States of America (USA), and the organization that provides the largest number of funding for research was the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (f = 78). Conclusion: Findings that the issue of elderly health is still up to date and that the interest of researchers in this subject is increasing with each passing year. The results of the study will provide useful clues for future research and scientific strategies in the field of elderly health.