A bibliometric analysis of 100 most-cited articles on behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD)

BPSD are a heterogeneous neuropsychiatric symptoms that are highly prevalent in persons with dementia (PwD). Understanding research trends on BPSD field is important to appraise and guide future research.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the 100 most cited articles about BPSD using bibliometrics, and to describe the current trends, patterns, types, area of work done and lacunae.

The Google Scholar database was searched using a freely available software, Publish or Perish for retrieving 100 most cited articles on BPSD following PRISMA guidelines. Information related to citations metrics, journals, country of origin, institution of origin, study design and primary area of work was collected.

The total citation count ranged from 75 to 9096 [mean(SD):343.86(946.24)]. The citation count per year ranged from 3.94 to 303.3. The normalised citation count ranged from 0.09 to 3.57. The maximum number of articles were published in 2005 and 2013 (n = 9 each). John Hopkins University (n = 9) and International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (n = 24) contributed to the maximum articles. Nearly 90 % of articles came from high income countries.

Cross-sectional studies and systematic reviews were the most common study methods in the BPSD research. Epidemiological and interventional are the most studied primary areas. Lack of adequate studies with RCT design, qualitative studies and areas including predictors of BPSD, quality of life, cost analysis and staff training was observed. There is markedly lesser research from middle and low-income countries on BPSD.