Scientific production on falls and deaths among elderly persons: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract Objective: To map international scientific production on falls and deaths among the elderly. Method: A bibliometric study of academic papers was carried out in the ISI Web of Knowledge/Web of ScienceTM. The search terms "elderly*", "fall*" and "death*" were used for studies between 1990 and 2016. Articles from events or those still in the editing process and studies in the form of "conference proceedings", "editorial material" and "letters" were excluded, with only finished studies and complete "articles" and "reviews" considered. Results: After applying the refinement filters, 668 articles were identified during the 26 year evaluation period, published in 364 different journals indexed to the database in question. These were written by 2,958 authors with links to 1131 research institutions located in 63 countries. The articles included 22,093 references, with an average of approximately 33 references per study. Conclusion: The articles on falls and deaths among the elderly emphasize the need for more specific studies on the subject and its potential for exploration in future research. This study revealed the need for this issue to be discussed in the training of health professionals, as it represents an opportunity to deconstruct and reconstruct concepts and values that are established throughout the life of individuals, such as care related to the avoidability of falls, to improve the quality of life of this population.

摘要
研究目的：绘制关于老年人跌倒与死亡的国际科学研究成果图谱。
研究方法：本研究为基于ISI Web of Knowledge/Web of Science™数据库的文献计量学研究，检索采用“老年人*”“跌倒*”“死亡*”作为检索词，检索时限为1990年至2016年。排除会议相关稿件、处于编辑流程中的稿件，以及会议录、编辑材料、来信类研究，仅纳入已完成的正式研究、完整期刊论文与综述类文献。
研究结果：经精细化筛选后，本次26年评估周期内共识别出668篇学术论文，发表于该数据库收录的364种不同期刊。这些论文的作者共计2958位，关联了来自63个国家的1131家研究机构。所有文章的参考文献总量达22093篇，平均每篇研究约含33篇参考文献。
研究结论：老年人跌倒与死亡相关研究凸显了开展该主题更具针对性研究的必要性，以及未来研究的探索潜力。本研究同时指出，该议题需纳入卫生专业人员的培训讨论范畴，因其为解构与重构贯穿个体一生的固有概念与价值观（如与跌倒可预防性相关的照护理念）提供了契机，进而可提升该群体的生活质量。