Relationship Between Osteoarthritis and Metabolic Diseases: A Bibliometric and Visual Analysis
Yunping Weng1, Junyan Wu2, Shuilan Xie1
1Operating Room, Zhangzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Zhangzhou, Fujian, China.
Background/Aims:
To map global research on osteoarthritis (OA) and metabolic diseases, separately examining individual metabolic diseases and metabolic syndrome (MetS), and identify gaps and emerging frontiers.
Materials And Methods:
Web of Science Core Collection publications (2009-2025) were retrieved on February 22, 2026. Co-authorship and keyword co-occurrence networks, Louvain clustering (modularity and silhouette evaluation), burst detection, and keyword-cluster visualization were performed. Betweenness centrality assessed country collaboration. Chord diagrams and temporal streamgraphs mapped pairwise disease co-study patterns and trajectories. GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) trends were assessed using 24 predefined terms.
Results:
We included 10,217 articles from 1582 journals by 38,665 authors. Annual output rose 4.4-fold between 2009 and 2025. The United States (33.4%), China (15.0%), and the United Kingdom (9.3%) were the leading contributors. Ten major themes were identified: progression, arthroplasty, physical activity, inflammation, prevalence, Mendelian randomization, meta-analysis, knee OA, body mass index, and hip. Obesity and type 2 diabetes were the most frequently co-studied conditions. Obesity showed the strongest sustained growth, whereas nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) received limited attention. Inflammation and risk were the strongest burst terms. OA-related GLP-1RA publications increased 9.7-fold after 2021.
Conclusion:
OA-metabolic disease research is expanding rapidly. NAFLD, hyperuricemia, and MetS remain underexplored, while GLP-1RA is a major emerging frontier.
