Research trends and hotspots of post-stroke upper limb dysfunction: a bibliometric and visualization analysis

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Increasing global stroke prevalence leads to widespread motor dysfunction, particularly affecting upper limb function in 55-75% of patients.
• Upper limb impairment recovery is slower and more challenging than lower limb recovery, significantly impacting patients' quality of life.
• There is a critical and growing need for research into effective interventions for post-stroke upper limb dysfunction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze publication trends, key institutions, influential journals, and research hotspots in post-stroke upper limb dysfunction.
• To identify emerging research areas and future directions in the field of upper limb rehabilitation after stroke.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of 1,938 articles published between 2004 and 2023 from the Web of Science Core Collection.
• Utilized CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Bibliometrix R for analyzing publication output, geographic distribution, institutional contributions, and keyword co-occurrence.
• Focused on identifying research trends, influential works, and primary intervention strategies in post-stroke upper limb recovery.

Main Results:

• A consistent annual increase in publications was observed, with the United States leading in research output.
• Northwestern University and the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair were identified as highly significant contributors.
• Key research themes include assessment reliability/validity, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of therapies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, intelligent rehabilitation, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.

Conclusions:

• Research interest is expanding into areas such as robot-assisted therapy, virtual reality, brain-computer interfaces, and telerehabilitation.
• Cortical reorganization and neural plasticity are recognized as crucial mechanisms for upper limb motor recovery.
• Future research is expected to concentrate on these advanced therapeutic modalities and neurobiological underpinnings to enhance functional outcomes for stroke survivors.