Recent trends in diabetes-related consumer health information technology research

Diabetes-related consumer health information technology (CHIT) has been designed to facilitate self-management practices, and its use has improved health outcomes for many consumers. This analysis sought to identify tendencies in diabetes-related CHIT research from 2010-2015 to help researchers find novel research topics, periodicals, collaborators, and funding agencies and experts and lay consumers to find scholarly information. Six search engines encompassing computer science, engineering, and medicine yielded potential diabetes-related CHIT publications. Abstracts and full texts were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Information on year, periodical, periodical domain, keywords, author location, author institutions, authors, and funding agencies were collected from included publications. The screening process yielded 1551 publications. Studies were published in a core of twenty periodicals, commonly comprising medicine or technology domains. "Telemedicine" was the most frequently used keyword. Harvard University, Dr. Eirik Årsand, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases were the most frequent author institution, author, and funding agency, respectively, associated with publications. This analysis revealed potential for novel research on the sociology and economics of diabetes-related CHIT, among other topics. A lack of collaboration between top authors in the field indicates potential for new, impactful collaborations. Ongoing bibliometric research will be necessary to assess changes in this field. The opportunity exists to inform lay consumers and researchers through bibliometric analyses of other consumer health informatics topics.