A bibliometric analysis and visualization of research on heart failure complicated with malnutrition

Abstract Objective This study aimed to have a good knowledge of heart failure complicated with malnutrition research status, hotspots, and forecast research trends using bibliometric analysis and visualization of studies of heart failure complicated with malnutrition in the past 10 years. Methods Articles related to malnutrition-induced heart failure were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) series from January 2012 to January 2022. Two software (Java CiteSpace 5.8R3 and Microsoft Excel 2019) were used to perform bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis, including analyzing the annual publication and trend of articles, authors and co-cited authors, institutions/countries, co-cited journals, co-occurrence, clusters, and burst of keywords, co-cited references, and reference burst. Results A total of 672 articles appeared in 180 scientific journals by 4249 authors from 1453 institutions in 71 countries. Over the past 10 years, the number of related studies released has shown an upward trend, and the range of increases has been larger over the past 5 years. Takatoshi Kasai released the most papers, while Anker S D had the most co-quotes. Simultaneously, active cooperation existed in complicated heart failure with researchers on malnutrition. Circulation, Journal of The American College of Cardiology, and Clinical Nutrition were the top 3 co-cited journals. The USA, Japan, and China were the most productive countries, while Johns Hopkins University was the most active institution. In addition, the reference published by Ponikowski P had the most co-citations, relating to as a knowledge base. The latest hotspots of heart failure complicated with malnutrition mainly included research on: (1) assessment of nutrition status, the impact/risk factor of nutrition, and the prevalence and outcome of the patients; (2) heart failure complicated with malnutrition when complicated with other diseases, for example, chronic kidney disease and diabetes mellitus; (3) the nutrition of child patients with heart failure complicated with malnutrition; and (4) the treatment of heart failure complicated with malnutrition, including assist devices, organ transplantation, and drug therapy. While the frontier topics included research on: (1) the index of heart failure complicated with malnutrition; (2) the effect of sarcopenia to heart failure complicated with malnutrition patients and the use of geriatric nutritional risk index to assess the nutritional statue; and (3) find the nutritional risk index. Conclusions This study conducted a full overview of the present research situation, hotspots, and frontiers by using bibliometric and visualization analysis methods in heart failure complicated with malnutrition, which would provide a helpful reference for future research.