Overview on pressure ulcers studies based on bibliometric methods

Abstract

Introduction: Pressure ulcers (PU) are a major health problem, causing increased health costs as well as workload of health workers. In this study, we aimed to analyze the developments in PUs and to add perspective to future studies by examining the research articles published on PUs, which is an increasing health problem worldwide. Material and methods: Bibliometric analysis method was used in this study. The data was obtained by searching the Elsevier Scopus database with using the keywords “pressure ulcer” or “bedsore” or “decubitus ulcer” or “decubitus” or “pressure sore”. Results: 4,361 articles were analyzed in terms of study criteria. The first article was published in the year 1849 and 52.94 % of articles were published after the year 2011. Most of the articles were written in English (87.6%) language. The majority 29.32%) of articles were from the United States of America (USA). USA, United Kingdom and Japan were the top three publishing countries. Most of the articles were in the area of medicine [n =2896(66.4%)] and nursing [n=1903(43.63%)]. The highest number of articles on PUs were published in the journals of Ostomy Wound Management (n=177), Journal of Wound Care (n=156), International Wound Journal (n=144), Journal of Wound Ostomy And Continence Nursing (n=141) and Journal of Tissue Viability (n=126). Conclusions: As the number of immobile and debiliated patients increase globally, the publications on PUs seem to be increase too. Studies outside of Europe and the USA should also be supported and the number of publications should be increased, especially from developing countries.