Prehabilitation Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Past Trends and Future Directions

This study investigates the global research landscape of prehabilitation, identifying current trends, dominant disciplines, collaborative networks, and prominent articles in the field.

For our analysis, we employed the published prehabilitation literature indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection database, spanning from 2002 to 2022. In addition, we utilized CiteSpace (version 6.2; Drexel University), a widely used information visualization software to perform bibliometric analysis.

Analyzing 553 research articles, we observe a consistent upward trend in prehabilitation publication and citation activity. Interdisciplinary co-occurrence analysis highlights strong connections with fields such as surgery, rehabilitation, oncology, sports sciences, orthopedics, gastroenterology, and hepatology. Initially centered around postoperative outcomes in major abdominal surgeries, particularly for colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancers, prehabilitation research expanded to include thoracic surgeries, focusing on conditions like lung cancer and aortic valve replacement. Preoperative exercise remains a core area, with increasing interest in multimodal prehabilitation and its effectiveness based on patient group characteristics. North America and Western Europe emerge as primary contributors to prehabilitation research.

Current research concentrates on tailoring prehabilitation programs for specific groups, and broadening their geographical scope would enhance the studies, contributing valuable insights for medical practitioners shaping future research efforts.