Research status and development trends of post-myocardial infarction heart failure: a bibliometric analysis from 2012 to 2022

Abstract

Objective: Post-myocardial infarction heart failure (post-MI HF) is a prevalent cardiovascular disease. The study aims to preliminarily explore the current research status and development trends in the field of post-MI HF, providing reference ideas and methods for clinical and scientific research. Methods: Publications related to post-MI HF from 2012-2022 in the Web of Science Core Collection's SCI-expanded dataset were extracted. Bibliometric analysis was executed using VOSviewer and R-bibliometrix, encompassing the number of publications, countries, institutions, authors, journals, cited references, and keywords. Results: Within the last decade, 10,929 publications in the domain were published, involving 58,357 authors from 10,437 research institutions across 120 different countries and regions. These findings appeared in 1,446 distinct journals. The United States led in the number of publications, with Harvard Medical School being the most active institution and Kober, Lars from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, as the leading author. Plos One was the most prolific journal, while Circulationhad the highest citation count. Over the past decade, research hotspots mainly centered on mortality, cardiac remodeling, and prognosis. In the recent two years, emphasis shifted to topics such as mendelian randomization, dapagliflozin, sacubitril/valsartan, COVID-19, and machine learning. Conclusion: The study reveals the overall performance of publications in the post-MI HF research field. The clinical prognosis of patients and cardiac remodeling have been research hotspots over the past decade, yet mortality and readmission remain urgent clinical challenges. Future research trends in this field may revolve around the mechanisms of cardiac remodeling, apoptosis, and inflammation, as well as clinical prognosis studies on patient mortality rates. Additionally, echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance technology are gradually becoming important methods for evaluating drug efficacy and elucidating related mechanisms.