Hotspots and Frontiers of Atrial Fibrillation and Cognitive Dysfunction: a bibliometric and visual analysis

Abstract

Background: Atrial fibrillation is a supraventricular tachyarrhythmia with uncoordinated atrial electrical activation and ineffective atrial contraction. Cognitive dysfunction is a syndrome of impaired cognitive function due to abnormalities in brain structure or function, mainly including mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Numerous studies have shown that the two are closely related. In recent years, many advances have been made in this field, but few studies have systematically combed, analyzed and summarized the current research status in this field. This study aimed to analyze existing studies on atrial fibrillation and cognitive dysfunction using bibliometrics. Methods: Relevant articles and reviews on cognitive dysfunction and atrial fibrillation were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Bibliometric analysis was performed in Excel16.70, VOSviewer 1.6.18, CiteSpace 6.1.6 and R 4.2.1. Results: A total of 1531 articles and reviews from establishing the database to 2023 were included in the bibliometric analysis. The earliest related research appeared in 1985, and the research in this field officially started after 1997 and entered the stage of rapid development in 2012. European and American countries started earlier in this field of research. There is a particular gap among regions, and different countries and institutions must actively strengthen cooperation. The United States had the most significant number of publications. Stroke was the most influential journal, and Lip GYH was the authoritative author in the field. The research focused on the mechanism of atrial fibrillation and cognitive dysfunction, anticoagulation, radiofrequency ablation, and epidemiology. Conclusion: In the past decade, research in this field has entered a stage of rapid development. The United States was clearly leading, and different countries and institutions need to strengthen cooperation actively. The mechanism, methods of diagnosis and treatment, and epidemiology of atrial fibrillation and cognitive dysfunction will remain the focus of research in the future, and early prevention and intervention are of great significance.