Infection-related research in Parkinson's disease: an exploratory trends analysis

Infection and Parkinson's disease (PD) appear to interact through complex mechanisms. Infection may promote the occurrence and progression of pathological processes related to PD, while PD and its associated dysfunctions may increase the risk of infection. This study depicts the evolution, thematic structure, and emerging directions of infection-related research in PD.

Publications related to infection and PD from 1999 to June 30, 2026 were retrieved from the WoSCC and Scopus databases. R software packages bibliometrix, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer were used for data analysis.

The number of published studies on PD and infection showed a gradual upward trend and increased significantly after 2020. The United States published the largest number of documents (n = 509) and received the most citations (n = 33,628); China and the UK published 218 and 164 papers, respectively. The University of Florida is the most productive institution (n = 23). Dr. Rajesh Pahwa and Dr. Michael S. Okun are among the most productive authors (n = 12). Parkinsonism & Related Disorders (n = 59) and Movement Disorders (n = 46) are the most active journals in this field. The keyword analysis identified five main themes: infection exposure and clinical outcomes; infection-induced neuroinflammation; shared mechanisms of neurodegeneration; virus-related neurological manifestations and PD; and gut microbiota-gut-brain interactions involved in PD pathogenesis and treatment response.

The research on infection and PD has developed rapidly, especially since the COVID-19 epidemic. This field is going beyond epidemiological association to explore how infection can trigger PD through neuroinflammation, α-synuclein (α-syn) pathology, the gut brain axis, and other factors. Infection management in patients with PD has also become an important clinical concern. This study reviews the development of this field, defines the emerging direction, and provides a reference for future mechanism research and clinical practice.