Research Trends in Perioperative Nutrition Management for Infants and Young Children: A Bibliometric Analysis
Nutritional management during the perioperative period of infants and young children represents a key research area bridging pediatric surgery and clinical nutrition. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive visual analysis of global research concerning nutritional care for infants and young children undergoing surgery.This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of 1, 762 English-language publications retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (up to 2025). Over the past three decades, the volume of research in this field has shown a fluctuating upward trend (R² = 0.8541). The United States leads globally with 600 publications (36.85%), followed by notable contributions from the University of Alberta's Faculty of Dentistry (35 articles) and Department of Pediatrics (32 articles). Collaboration network analysis revealed a "core-periphery" structure with low network density (0.0082), while keyword co-occurrence analysis generated a knowledge map with 298 nodes and 725 links (density = 0.0385). Citation burst analysis identified "outcome" as the most influential recent keyword (post-2018), and eight robust research clusters were validated (Modularity Q = 0.4362, Silhouette S = 0.7501, Harmonic Mean = 0.5516). Current research hotspots and emerging frontiers primarily concentrate on three key areas: the development of precision nutrition strategies and personalized management protocols, the integration of technological innovations with multi-omics approaches, and the extension of outcome assessments to include long-term follow-up from a lifelong health perspective. Research evolution demonstrates a shift from short-term surgical survival to broader evaluations of nutritional interventions on long-term neurodevelopment, metabolic health, and quality of life. Future research should focus on individualized nutritional strategies, technological innovation, and enhancing long-term outcomes for pediatric patients.
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