Global trends in the research on older population dizziness/vertigo: a 20-year bibliometric and visualization analysis

Objective

Dizziness or vertigo in older population frequently presents in clinical settings, yet its etiology remains elusive. The objective of this study was to delineate global trends and identify frontiers in research concerning dizziness or vertigo among older population.

Methods

We searched the research literature published from 2003 to 2022 on older population with dizziness or vertigo using two databases from the Web of Science Core Collection. A bibliometric and visualization analysis was conducted. Bibliometric tools facilitated co-authorship, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrence analyses, encompassing countries or regions, institutions, authors, journals, and references.

Results

The analysis included 1322 publications authored by 6524 individuals from 2244 institutions across 67 countries or regions, spanning 92 subject categories. A steady increase in publications was noted from 2003 to 2022. The University of Munich, Harvard University, and the University of California System emerged as leading institutions with the highest publication outputs. The United States, Germany, and China were predominant in publication counts. Eva Grill was identified as the most prolific author. Otology & Neurotology and Geriatrics & Gerontology emerged as the most prolific journal and subject category, respectively. The most prevalent keywords were “dizziness”, “vertigo”, “falls”, and “geriatric”, with “management”, “gait”, and “association” recognized as the principal research hotspots.

Conclusion

This study provides a systematic analysis of global scientific research on older population dizziness/vertigo, revealing significant advancements in understanding over the past two decades. Management, gait, and association have emerged as the primary research focuses on recent years. These findings offer valuable insights for directing current research efforts to capture prevailing trends and explore new frontiers in this field.