Research trends in telemedicine for chronic diseases: A bibliometric study

Objective: The aim of this bibliometric study review is to analyze the current research status, hotspots, and trends in telemedicine in the management of chronic diseases using VOSviewer and CiteSpace. Methods: Relevant publications were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus databases up to the year 2023. The search strategy was based on keywords such as "telemedicine", "chronic disease" and "management" as well as their synonyms and related terms. Boolean operators were applied to combine these terms appropriately. The literature was manually screened. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used for visual analysis. The knowledge map was created from multiple dimensions, including publication trends, author collaboration, country distribution, keyword co-occurrence, clustering and burst analysis. Results: A total of 1,747 articles were included. The annual number of publications showed an upward trend, peaking in 2021 with 210 articles. The United States, China, and Italy were the leading countries in publication volume, with the United States contributing the most (37.71%). The most prolific authors were Zanaboni P., and Koehler F., who published nine papers each. Collaboration among authors appeared to be relatively independent. The clustering of keywords revealed three main themes: diseases, management pathways, and clinical applications. The co-occurrence analysis showed that the main focuses were "chronic disease identification", "disease management pathways", and "clinical application of telemedicine". Technology-related keywords such as "mobile applications", "telemedicine", and "digital health" occurred frequently. The burst analysis indicated that "coronavirus disease 2019" and "digital health" have emerged as current research hotspots. Conclusion: Research on telemedicine in chronic disease management is growing rapidly. The focus has shifted from traditional healthcare services to intelligent technologies and personalized care. Technologies such as mobile health, digital interventions, and remote monitoring are expected to play key roles in self-management, long-term monitoring, and improving accessibility to healthcare. Future research should emphasize interdisciplinary integration and patient adherence to promote practical applications across the full chronic disease lifecycle.