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. 2025 Jun 19:6:1592464.
doi: 10.3389/fragi.2025.1592464. eCollection 2025.

Gait analysis in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a bibliometric analysis of global trends, hotspots, and emerging frontiers

Yuan Zhong #  1 , Siqi Huang #  2 , Meixia Zou  2 , Yiming Chen  2 , Peifeng Shen  2 , Yanan He  2 , Yuanchao Li  2 , Chunlong Liu  2 , Zhibiao Chen  1
Affiliations

Gait analysis in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a bibliometric analysis of global trends, hotspots, and emerging frontiers

Yuan Zhong et al. Front Aging. .

Abstract

Background: Gait analysis has emerged as a critical non-invasive tool for early identification and monitoring of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in aging populations, particularly given its potential to predict dementia progression. This bibliometric analysis synthesizes two decades of research to map the evolution of gait analysis in MCI, identify interdisciplinary collaborations, and highlight emerging frontiers in MCI-related mobility research.

Methods: Literature related to gait analysis in MCI was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. The search spanned publications from 2005 to 2024 and was executed in a single search session on 15 December 2024. CiteSpace and VOSviewer software were used to analyze publications, authorship, institutional affiliations, journals, keywords, and cited references. Burst detection and timeline analyses of keywords and references were conducted to identify emerging trends and temporal patterns.

Results: A total of 1,223 articles were identified. Annual publication trends indicate sustained scholarly interest over the past 5 years. The United States contributed the most publications (392 articles, 32.05%), with Western University (Canada, 65 articles) as the leading institution. Journals publishing these studies primarily focus on Alzheimer's disease (AD), gerontology, and neurology, while prolific authors like Verghese J (USA) and Montero-odasso M(Canada) shaped the field's trajectory. Emerging research frontiers include dementia progression, AD, and Parkinson's disease, with 2024 priorities emphasizing "dual-task walking", "digital biomarkers" and "working groups". Additionally, validity and reliability assessments of gait analysis for MCI diagnosis and intervention represent a growing research trend.

Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive overview of the current landscape, hotspots, and trends in gait analysis for MCI management. By delineating its transformation from a descriptive tool to a predictive framework, we highlight persistent challenges such as methodological heterogeneity and small sample sizes. However, advances in machine learning and multicenter collaborations present opportunities to standardize protocols. Future high-quality studies are expected to establish gait-derived biomarkers as clinically actionable tools in MCI stratification and therapeutic monitoring.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; dementia; gait analysis; mild cognitive impairment; research hotspots.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flowchart of screening process.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Publication outputs and time trend of gait studies on MCI. (A) The number of annual publications from 2005 to 2024. (B) The model fitting curve of time trend of publications.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The co-authorship analysis of the countries or regions. (A) Map of world distribution of the publications within this domain. (B) Collaborations map of countries or regions. (C) The top ten countries with the highest aggregate citation count.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The co-authorship analysis of the institutions. (A) Collaborations map of institutions. (B) Network visualization portraying the co-authorship interconnections among institutions with more than 10 publication. (C) Network visualization illustrating the co-authorship interconnections among institutions, categorized based on the mean publication year (blue denoting earlier years, and yellow denoting later years).
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Analysis of journals. (A) Distribution from different journals of gait studies on MCI. (B) The dual-map overlay of journals with publications.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Analysis of active authors. (A) Network visualization highlighting the co-authorship connections among top 50 authors who have contributed to more than five publications. (B) Network visualization illustrating the co-cited authors who have received over 100 citations.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
The co-occurrence analysis of the keywords. (A) Collaborations map of keywords. (B) Keywords with the strongest occurrence burst. (C) Timeline map of keywords.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
The co-occurrence analysis of the references. (A) Collaborations map of co-cited reference. (B) References with the strongest citation burst. (C) Timeline map of references.
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