Global research landscape on the genetics of congenital heart disease: A bibliometric and visualized analysis via VOSviewer and CiteSpace

Abstract

Genetic factors play a significant role in the development of congenital heart disease (CHD). Many studies on the genetics of CHD have been published worldwide; however, no research has assessed and mapped the global research landscape of these studies. This bibliometric and visualized study aimed to delineate research hotspots and trends in the field of CHD genetics. Scientific papers on the genetics of CHD from January 1, 1950, to December 31, 2023, were obtained by searching the Web of Science Core Collection. The bibliometric metadata of each chosen research paper were extracted, analyzed, and visualized using tools such as Microsoft Excel 2021, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace. The final analysis included 5317 papers discussing the genetics of CHD. The countries and journals that published the highest number of papers were the United States (n=2118), and American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A (n=332), respectively. In addition to CHD and genetics, keywords such as tetralogy of Fallot, ventricular septal defect, and atrial septal defect appeared most frequently among 8365 keywords. Eight clusters were formed to categorize the keywords. Keywords such as case-control study, whole genome sequencing, and whole exome sequencing in clusters 6, 7, and 8, respectively, had the latest average publication year among all clusters. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric analysis of CHD genetics studies. Tetralogy of Fallot, ventricular septal defect, and atrial septal defect are global research topics. The interactions between environmental and genetic factors in the pathogenesis of CHD, genetic etiology of CHD-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension, and molecular genetics of CHD via high-throughput genomic technology are possible areas of future research on the genetics of CHD.