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：旨在系统梳理老年人群跌倒与死亡领域的国际科研产出全貌。 研究方法：本研究为文献计量学分析，依托ISI Web of Knowledge/Web of Science™数据库开展学术文献检索。检索采用带通配符的关键词：“elderly*”（老年人群）、“fall*”（跌倒）与“death*”（死亡），检索时间跨度为1990年至2016年。研究排除在编稿件、会议论文、会议录、社论材料及读者信函类文献，仅纳入已完成的完整学术论文与综述类研究。 研究结果：经过筛选过滤后，本次覆盖26年的评估周期内共检索得到668篇学术论文，发表于该数据库收录的364种不同期刊。这些论文累计关联2958位作者，涉及63个国家的1131家科研机构。纳入研究的论文共包含22093条参考文献，单篇研究的平均参考文献数约为33篇。 研究结论：老年人群跌倒与死亡相关研究凸显了针对该主题开展更具针对性研究的必要性，以及未来研究的潜在探索价值。本研究同时揭示，需在卫生专业人员的培训中纳入该议题的探讨，因其为解构与重构个体毕生形成的相关概念与价值观提供了契机——例如与跌倒可预防性相关的照护理念，最终旨在提升该老年人群的生活质量。