The evolving landscape of frailty research: A bibliometric analysis
List of Authors
  • Azliyana Azizan , Norbayah Zainal

Keyword
  • Bibliometric, Frailty, Older adults, Physical, Scopus, Web of S

Abstract
  • This bibliometric analysis aimed to map global frailty research focused on older adults over the past four decades, illuminating growth, contributors, seminal works, and knowledge frontiers. Methodology: Frailty publications were retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science using keywords "frail*" AND "older adult*" without date restrictions. Data cleaning and analysis utilized ScientoPy, VOSviewer, and Biblioshiny to examine trends in output, countries, institutions, journals, citations, keywords, and concepts from 1980-2023. Findings: Among 3809 publications, output exponentially increased from <10 papers annually in the 1980s to 294 in 2021. The US and UK led production. Top universities were in Europe and Australia. Geriatrics and gerontology were the dominant subject, but multidisciplinary contribution highlighted frailty's complex etiology. Core topics included assessments, interventions, care models, sarcopenia, and adverse outcomes. Newer focus areas like integrated care and nurse-led models were rising. Originality: This robust longitudinal mapping elucidates the structure and evolution of the global frailty literature over the past four decades using multidimensional bibliometrics. Implications: Analysing quantitative growth, key contributors, seminal works, and conceptual shifts provides insights to inform frailty research priorities and policies for aging populations worldwide. Limitations: Database biases and search strategy constraints. Future studies can enrich visualizations, qualitative analyses, and regular knowledge mapping updates.

Reference
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