Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis of Gut Microbiota and Hypertension Interaction Research Published from 2001 to 2024

TL;DR

This paper analyzes global research trends on gut microbiota and hypertension from 2001 to 2024, identifying key contributors, hot topics, and emerging research directions.

Contribution

The study provides a novel bibliometric and visual analysis of gut microbiota-hypertension research, revealing new trends and potential frontiers.

Findings

Global annual publications on gut microbiota and hypertension increased 481-fold from 2001 to 2024.

China was the most productive country, while the U.S. had the highest research impact in this field.

Emerging research hotspots include the 'gut-heart axis' and 'trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO)' as potential therapeutic targets.

Abstract

A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of literature is imperative to elucidate current research landscapes and hotspots in the interplay between gut microbiota and hypertension, identify knowledge gaps, and establish theoretical foundations for the future. We used publications retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and SCOPUS databases (January 2001–December 2024) to analyze the annual publication trends with GraphPad Prism 9.5.1, to evaluate co-authorship, keywords clusters, and co-citation patterns with VOSviewer 1.6.20, and conducted keyword burst detection and keyword co-occurrence utilizing CiteSpace v6.4.1. We have retrieved 2485 relevant publications published over the past 24 years. A 481-fold increase in global annual publications in this field was observed. China was identified as the most productive country, while the United States demonstrated the highest research impact. For the contributor, Yang Tao (University of Toledo, USA) and the University of Florida (USA) have emerged as the most influential contributors. Among journals, the highest number of articles was published in Nutrients (n = 135), which also achieved the highest citation count (n = 5397). The emergence of novel research hotspots was indicated by high-frequency keywords, mainly “hypertensive disorders of pregnancy”, “mendelian randomization”, “gut-heart axis”, and “hepatitis B virus”. “Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO)” and “receptor” may represent promising new research frontiers in the gut microbiota–hypertension nexus. The current research trends are shifting from exploring the factors influencing gut microbiota and hypertension to understanding the underlying mechanisms of these factors and the potential therapeutic applications of microbial modulation for hypertension management.

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