Global trends of big data analytics in health research: a bibliometric study

Background The field of "Big Health," which encompasses the integration of big data in healthcare, has seen rapid development in recent years. As big data technologies continue to transform healthcare, understanding emerging trends and key advancements within the field is essential.Methods We retrieved and filtered articles and reviews related to big data analytics in health research from the Web of Science Core Collection, including SCI Expanded and SSCI, covering the period from 2009 to 2024. Bibliometric and co-citation analyses were conducted using VOSviewer and CiteSpace.Results A total of 13,609 papers were analyzed, including 10,702 original research and 2,907 reviews. Co-occurrence word analysis identified six key research areas: (1) the application of big data analytics in health decision-making; (2) challenges in the technological management of health and medical big data; (3) integration of machine learning with health monitoring; (4) privacy and ethical issues in health and medical big data; (5) data integration in precision medicine; and (6) the use of big data in disease management and risk assessment. The co-word burst analysis results indicate that topics such as personalized medicine, decision support, and data protection experienced significant growth between 2015 and 2020. With the advancement of big data technologies, research hotspots have gradually expanded from basic data analysis to more complex application areas, such as the digital transformation of healthcare, digital health strategies, and smart health cities.Conclusion This study highlights the growing impact of big data analytics in healthcare, emphasizing its role in decision-making, disease management, and precision medicine. As digital transformation in healthcare advances, addressing challenges in data integration, privacy, and machine learning integration will be crucial for maximizing the potential of big data technologies in improving health outcomes.