A century of cardiac rehabilitation research: Bibliometric review of publication history, keyword trends, and citations

Research into cardiac rehabilitation (CR), a key model for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, has evolved since first described in 1927. This review aimed to explore this evolution by identifying CR-related publications from the Web of Science Core Collection and summarizing CR research publication history, trends in publication keywords, and citations over time. A total of 8729 CR publications appeared across 1441 journals (median impact factor: 2.6) and were cited 315,819 times, with over 85% (7455/8729) published in the past two decades. These publications involved contributions from 26,909 authors across 120 countries, despite disproportionate domination by high-income countries. Publication keywords have consistently focused on exercise but have evolved from evaluating clinical events, quality-of-life, and return-to-work outcomes to improving accessibility using digital interventions. However, a broader focus on other cardiovascular risk factors, comorbidities, and various research designs may be needed to modernize CR, particularly in lower-income countries.