The landscape of dementia research in Brazil from 2010 to 2021: a Scopus-based bibliometric study

Background Several studies have sought to investigate the trajectory of scholarly publications on dementia. Yet, there has been limited attention to contributions from Latin America.

Objective To provide a comprehensive overview of the literature output on dementia in Brazil.

Methods We conducted a Scopus-based literature search (2010–2021) for publications by authors affiliated with Brazil.

Results Out of 5,534 reports, 2,528 met the inclusion criteria. The annual growth rate of publications on dementia (9.9%, SD = 15.5) closely paralleled that of general health-related literature (6.7%, SD = 4.9). Most publications were categorized into the areas of diagnosis (33.4%) and disease mechanisms, origins, and models (32.7%). Epidemiological studies (4%), clinical trials (1%), and economic analyses (0.3%) are scarce. Based on the first affiliation of Brazil-affiliated authors, 89.3% of dementia output stemmed from Southeast (68.4%) and South (20.9%) of Brazil. Nonetheless, the state of São Paulo alone accounted for 41.1%, contributing to 60.1% of the Southeast. First and second authorships were predominantly held by female researchers, whereas male researchers occupied most of the second-to-last and last authorships. Overall, 1,812 (71.7%) were published in 346 foreign journals and 716 (28.3%) in 43 Brazilian journals. Notably, nearly half of the reports published in Brazil are concentrated in two journals: Dementia e Neuropsychologia (31.4%) and Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria (15.2%).

Conclusion There is a pressing need for more studies in dementia epidemiology and economic cost, in addition to more research across all Brazilian regions.