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Aging, Health, and Disability

Aging, Health, and Disability is a research topic within Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health. Science Explorer counts 21k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the health-related quality of life in the aging population, covering topics such as functional dependence, social support, mental health, and family functioning. It explores the impact of aging on health status and emphasizes the importance of geriatric assessment and elderly care.

  • Quality of Life
  • Aging Population
  • Health Status
  • Functional Dependence
  • Social Support
  • Elderly Care
  • Family Functioning
  • Mental Health
  • Social Integration
  • Geriatric Assessment
Research works
21k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Spain
24% of the 10 largest, 2022-now

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Aging, Health, and Disability research?

By volume, Spain and Mexico publish the most (1k and 940 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Spain 1k works
  2. 2 Mexico 940 works
  3. 3 Ecuador 585 works
  4. 4 Colombia 398 works
  5. 5 Chile 371 works
  6. 6 Peru 285 works
  7. 7 Argentina 214 works
  8. 8 Brazil 203 works
  9. 9 United States 178 works
  10. 10 Cuba 72 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Spain: 23.6%Mexico: 22.1%Ecuador: 13.8%Colombia: 9.4%6 others listed: 31.1%24%largest
Spain1,002 · 23.6%Mexico940 · 22.1%Ecuador585 · 13.8%Colombia398 · 9.4%6 others listed1,323 · 31.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Aging, Health, and Disability research?

By volume in 2022-now, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México publishes the most Aging, Health, and Disability research, followed by Mexican Social Security Institute and Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes.

Who are the leading researchers in Aging, Health, and Disability?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Aging, Health, and Disability include Christopher J L Murray, Ronald C. Kessler and Luigi Ferrucci.

  1. 1 Christopher J L Murray United States 583k citations
  2. 2 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  3. 3 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
  4. 4 Josep María Haro Spain 250k citations
  5. 5 Rafael Lozano United States 224k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Aging, Health, and Disability?

The most cited paper in Aging, Health, and Disability is "Loneliness, social isolation, and behavioral and biological health indicators in older adults." (Aparna Shankar, Anne McMunn, James W. Banks et al., 2011), with 1,148 citations. Next come "[The Spanish version of the SF-36 Health Survey (the SF-36 health questionnaire): an instrument for measuring clinical results]." (958) and "Handbook of the Biology of Aging" (869).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Loneliness, social isolation, and behavioral and biological health indicators in older adults. Aparna Shankar, Anne McMunn, James W. Banks et al. · Health Psychology 2011 1,148
2 [The Spanish version of the SF-36 Health Survey (the SF-36 health questionnaire): an instrument for measuring clinical results]. J. Alonso, Luis Manuel Prieto, Antó Jm · PubMed 27 May 1995 958
3 Handbook of the Biology of Aging A. Kurt Weiss · Journal of Gerontology Sep 1978 869
4 Successful Aging and Well-Being William J. Strawbridge, Margaret I. Wallhagen, Richard. D. Cohen · The Gerontologist Dec 2002 660
5 Prevalence of functional disability in activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and associated factors, as predictors of morbidity and mortality José Carlos Millán-Calentí, Javier Tubío, Salvador Pita‐Fernández et al. · Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics Open access 11 Jun 2009 637
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Aging, Health, and Disability research done?

The largest centres of Aging, Health, and Disability research in 2022-now are Mexico City (Mexico), Madrid (Spain), Santiago (Chile) and Bogotá (Colombia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Ambato, Guanajuato City and Portoviejo.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 Mexico CityMexico 263 works
  2. 2 MadridSpain 212 works
  3. 3 SantiagoChile 186 works
  4. 4 BogotáColombia 166 works
  5. 5 LimaPeru 153 works
  6. 6 AmbatoEcuador 134 works
  7. 7 Buenos AiresArgentina 118 works
  8. 8 BarcelonaSpain 92 works
  9. 9 GuayaquilEcuador 81 works
  10. 10 QuitoEcuador 80 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AmbatoEC · 133.8 works71×
  2. Guanajuato CityMX · 47.5 works65×
  3. PortoviejoEC · 47.2 works59×
  4. Ciudad VictoriaMX · 27.0 works55×
  5. PachucaMX · 46.6 works54×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Aging, Health, and Disability than the world average.

See Aging, Health, and Disability on the map

Where is the best place to study Aging, Health, and Disability?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Concepción, Universidad Técnica de Ambato and Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 15.26%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidad Técnica …University of Concep…Universidad Técnica …Pontificia Universid…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of ConcepciónChile 70.820.7%40.1×23 +45.5%
2Universidad Técnica de AmbatoEcuador 67.414.9%93.2×57 +175.6%
3Universidad Técnica de CotopaxiEcuador 63.927.5%41.6×10 +455.6%
4Pontificia Universidad Católica del EcuadorEcuador 62.414.8%62.7×30 +114.3%
5Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 61.513.7%14.9×55 -5.2%
6Universidad de ZaragozaSpain 59.710.1%20.2×37 +35.9%
7Autonomous University of ChihuahuaMexico 59.320.2%55.9×15 +113.0%
8Universidad César VallejoPeru 58.012.0%29.3×33 +163.1%
9Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 57.78.2%18.4×76 -3.7%
10Pontificia Universidad Católica de ChileChile 56.710.5%24.1×31 +7.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Aging, Health, and Disability, country by country

Is Aging, Health, and Disability research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Aging, Health, and Disability as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.024% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Aging, Health, and Disability0.018% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Aging, Health, and Disability over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Aging, Health, and Disability10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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