Mapping the Research Landscape of Falls in Older Adults: A Bibliometric Analysis

• Published in: Proceedings of International Conference on Research in Education and Science
• Main Author: Azizan A.; Muawanah S.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: The International Society for Technology Education and Science 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85184308791&partnerID=40&md5=19fdf2ef933401fa007ba03d3c4bc1b4

Aging is a growing public health concern as falls are the leading cause of unintentional injury in older adults. Thus, this study identifies the main areas and current interactions between falls in the field of older adults and suggests future research directions. Using a bibliometric analysis, we examine a sample of 6815 studies from the Scopus database on falls and older adult research starting from 1842 to 2022. Findings showed the United States was an active country, with 1760 total publications and the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Boston, MA was a dynamic institution. Three prolific authors in this area have been identified, namely Lord SR from Sydney, Kenny RA, and Stevens JA from the Ireland and United States, respectively. While, the most cited paper was from Tinetti M (1988), with the title “Risk Factors for Falls among Elderly Persons Living in the Community” (cites=4922). The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society was the most active journal. The co-occurrence analysis was used to study to explore topics related to aging and falls. The total strength of the co-occurrence links with other keywords was calculated by the VOSviewer software using the normalization of associations and full counting algorithm. Five major clusters have been discussed related on the topics researched. Although research activity on aging and falls occurs globally, a lack of collaboration exists across country lines, especially between authors of developed and developing countries. Research on risk factors related to falls in the community focusing on balance issues and gait was significantly discussed. However, insufficient attention to the diversity of aging and their individual needs particularly with respect to cultural and socioeconomic factors. We conclude by suggesting two potential research directions related to prevention and focusing on sub-populations of older adults such as those with dementia. © 2023 Published by the ISTES Organization