DOI: 10.33438/ijdshs.1362539 ISSN: 2645-9094

Mapping the Muscle Mass: A Birds-Eye View of Sarcopenia Research Through Bibliometric Network Analysis

Azliyana AZİZAN
  • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies
  • Health (social science)
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
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Sarcopenia, characterized by progressive age-associated loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, has emerged as an impending public health threat. This bibliometric analysis elucidates the knowledge landscape of sarcopenia research by synthesizing growth trajectories, collaborative networks, and intellectual structures within the literature. Scientific publications spanning 1993–2023 were retrieved from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. VOSviewer, Biblioshiny, and ScientoPy software tools facilitated visualization and analysis of bibliometric trends. Results showed that after a seminal 2010 consensus definition paper, sarcopenia publications increased over 20-fold by 2021, following an initial gradual growth and then exponential expansion. China led in output volume; however, Western nations exhibited higher international collaboration. Prolific institutions clustered within Asia and Europe, although Australian and Canadian centers were also represented, reflecting expanding global networks. Core journals were dispersed across clinical medicine, gerontology, and nutrition. A co-occurrence network analysis of keywords delineated three predominant research domains: physical disability, muscle diagnostic metrics, and clinical prognostic outcomes. Keywords like “mobility” in the disability domain reflect sarcopenia's functional impacts. Debates on diagnostic cutoffs were evident in the muscle metrics domain. The prognostic domain signaled sarcopenia’s expanding value beyond geriatrics. These insights identify key areas for future research, including consolidating diagnostic methods through collaborative efforts, exploring lifestyle interventions, and investigating sarcopenia in diverse specialties. This bibliometric analysis comprehensively visualizes sarcopenia research growth, collaboration landscape, and knowledge structure, despite its limitations in the inclusion of citation trajectories and text mining, and offers data-driven advice for dealing with this expanding public health syndrome.

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