E-ISSN:2456-3110

Review Article

Bibliomteric Review

Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences

2023 Volume 8 Number 4 April
Publisherwww.maharshicharaka.in

Bibliometric review of publications related to Geriatric Care and Ayurveda

Singh S.1*, Mansoria P.2, Ahmad A.3
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21760/jaims.8.4.32

1* S.B. Singh, Research Officer (Ayu.), Regional Ayurveda Research Institute, C.C.R.A.S., Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India.

2 Poornima Mansoria, Lecturer, Govt. Autonomous Ayurveda College, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India.

3 Azeem Ahmad, Research Officer (Ayu.), C.C.R.A.S., Janakpuri, New Delhi, India.

Global population ageing presents an unprecedented set of problems, such as shifting disease burden, increasing health and long-term healthcare expenses, dissaving, and potential issues with old-age economic security. Ayurveda may provide some solutions for these issues because it already has a special division for treating elderly people. In the last few years, there has been research related to old age, in which Ayurveda has focused on the prevention and treatment of diseases occurring in old age. The analysis of this published work, journals, authors, organizations and keywords is done in this paper. 35 publications related to geriatric and Ayurveda published between 1999 and January 2023, were analyzed in various aspects and the conclusion was found that limited publications on geriatrics and Ayurveda care. These papers have been published in a total of 22 journals and 99 authors and 9 organizations were found related to these publications. The present paper presents a bibliometric review of the publications related to ageing and Ayurveda and emphasizes that research related to ageing Ayurveda should be encouraged.

Keywords: Ayurveda, Bibliomteric Review, Geriatric, Jaravastha

Corresponding Author How to Cite this Article To Browse
S.B. Singh, Research Officer (Ayu.), Regional Ayurveda Research Institute, C.C.R.A.S., Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Email: 		S.B. Singh, Poornima Mansoria, Azeem Ahmad, Bibliometric review of publications related to Geriatric Care and Ayurveda. J Ayu Int Med Sci. 2023;8(4):189-193.
Available From
https://jaims.in/jaims/article/view/2268

Manuscript Received Review Round 1 Review Round 2 Review Round 3 Accepted
2023-02-25 2023-02-27 2023-03-06 2023-03-13 2023-03-19
Conflict of Interest Funding Ethical Approval Plagiarism X-checker Note
Nil Nil Yes 17%

© 2023by S.B. Singh, Poornima Mansoria, Azeem Ahmadand Published by Maharshi Charaka Ayurveda Organization. This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ unported [CC BY 4.0].

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Singh S et al: Bibliometric review of publications related Geriatric Care and Ayurveda

Introduction

Ageing is a complex, inevitable procedure that begins before birth and lasts the entirety of a person's life. It is primarily a physiological phenomenon that arises from the mind-body system's involutionary processes. It can be defined as the time-related deterioration of the physiological functions necessary for survival and fertility. By 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over. At this time the share of the population aged 60 years and over will increase from 1 billion in 2020 to 1.4 billion.[1] The fertility rate is gradually declining in the twenty-first century, and as life expectancy rises, society will have to deal with concerns related to longevity. The number of elderly people worldwide is growing, and by 2050, those over 65 will make up one-fifth of the world's population. 3.8% of the population in India is over the age of 65.[2,3]

The needs of the elderly are unique and distinctive as they are vulnerable. Health, economic and psychological needs are most important. The needs of the elderly are unique and distinctive as they are vulnerable. Health, economic and psychological needs are most important. The requirements of the elderly are distinctive and unique as they are vulnerable. The three most crucial needs are those of health, economy, and psychology. According to a 2004 WHO research, 236 elderly individuals per 10,000 experience mental illness, which is primarily brought on by stress, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. One in twenty Americans over the age of 65 today suffers from dementia, a debilitating old-age illness. According to estimations, 4 million Indians will develop dementia by 2025.[4]

Older age is also characterized by the emergence of several complex health states commonly called geriatric syndromes. They are often the consequence of multiple underlying factors and include frailty, urinary incontinence, falls, and delirium and pressure ulcers.

Ageing is regarded by Ayurveda as the Swabhavaja Vyadhi, or the inherent character of the living being to age.[5] Old age was defined by Acharya Sushruta as being over 70 years old in his comprehensive and systematic classification of ages. Contrarily, Acharya Charaka indicated old age after the age of 60.[6,7]

According to the basic tenets of Tridosha, Vata is the dominant Dosha in old age. The majority of the signs of ageing are caused by it, which also causes tissue atrophy and involution. Age-related Agni depletion causes a decline in energy and vitality, as well as decay and atrophy due to a malfunctioning metabolism. All of the Dhatu, Virya, Indriya, Ojas, Bala, and Utsaha gradually deteriorate throughout this time, and there is also hair loss, skin ageing, a persistent cough that flares up frequently shortness of breath, and difficulty performing daily tasks.[8]

Ayurveda which is known as the science of longevity emphasizes Hitayu and Sukhayu, that why Jara (Geriatrics) is placed under eight main branches of Ayurveda.[9] Ayurveda has the capacity to prevent diseases by promoting health and managing illnesses that arise in old age. It has a specialized branch called Rasayana that deals with the issues associated with ageing and ways to combat them. Its unique therapy methodology delays ageing and decreases the intensity of problems appearing in this degenerative phase of life by repairing physiological systems that regulate metabolic and immunological conditions. In the context of geriatric care, these interventions are significant.

Population ageing, or the shift in a nation's population's distribution towards older ages, began in high-income nations (for instance, in Japan, 30% of the population is already over 60 years old), but the biggest changes are currently being seen in low- and middle-income nations. Two-thirds of the world's population over 60 will reside in low- and middle-income nations by the year 2050.[10] As the world population is growing older and there is a great need to focus on helping aging adults maintain their abilities and quality of life, Ayurveda can contribute a lot to Geriatric care. It is necessary to make future strategies based on the previous work done in the field of geriatric care through Ayurveda. In this paper, we will analyze the publications related to geriatric care and Ayurveda to reach some concrete results

Aims and Objectives

The objective of this research endeavor is to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis of the existing literature pertaining to geriatric care in Ayurveda, with the aim of identifying the key themes, trends, and research gaps in this field.



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Methodology

In the present study, we searched the Dimension database for publications related to Geriatrics and Ayurveda using the keywords “Geriatric” ‘Ayurveda’, ‘Jara’ and ‘Jaravastha’. We searched only for Articles on English language, Letter to the editor; book chapters, conference abstracts and poster presentations were not included for the analysis.

Result

On search we found total of 67 publications related to geriatric and Ayurveda, from which we excluded 7 book chapters, two preprints, and 1 edited book chapter, total 57 documents were further reviewed by title and abstract reading, and 22 articles were excluded as they did not fit with our objective, finally, 35 publications were selected for the analysis. We retrieved the data of these 35 publications and performed statistical analysis by MS-Excel 2010 using descriptive statistics.

Discussion

On analysis of the data retrieved from the year 1999 to January 2023 it was observed that the maximum number of publications (06 articles) on geriatrics and Ayurveda were published in 2018 followed by in year 2017 with 5 publications in that year. The publication trends in terms of number show a mixed pattern (Figure-1) in which from year 1999 to 2016 there was a single publication related to geriatrics and Ayurveda in that particular year. In the year 2017 and 2018 (highest number of publication) exponential growth was found and after that the publications were in up and down pattern with more and less number of publications. On analysis it was identified that there were seven clinical trials, one Survey study and rest twenty-seven were review articles. This indicates that there is limited research work on geriatric care through Ayurveda. There were total 22 publication sources for these 35 publications and the maximum number of publications were from ‘National Journal of Research in Ayurved Science’ (06 publication) followed by ‘Ayu’ and ‘Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences’ with three publications from each journal. (Table-1) In terms of citations received from the sources ‘Bio gerontology’ received the highest number of citations (113 citations) followed by ‘Journal of

Alternative and complimentary Medicine’ (62 citations) and ‘Ancient Science of life’ (16 citations).

The two journals ‘Bio gerontology’ and ‘Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine’ were found to have a good impact factor (5.58 and 2.38 respectively). Publications in these two journals are an indicator of high-quality publication in the field of geriatric care through Ayurveda. Total 99 Authors were found related to these publications, all the authors were having one publication but in terms of citations received the top authors (Table-2) were K.Narsimhamurthy, Girish Singh, Ramharsh Singh, (113 citations each) V. Bala Manyam (62 citations), Hemang Joshi, Rahul dutt karra and K. Niteshwar (16 citations each). K.Narsimhamurthy, Girish Singh and Ramharsh Singh have reported the role of Medhya Rasayana in retarding brain aging and help in the regeneration of neural tissues besides producing antistress, adaptogenic and memory-enhancing effect.[11] V. Bala Manyam has presented a review over the anti-aging methods or care such as diet, exercise, herbal preparations.[12] The other most cited authors Hemang Joshi, Rahul dutt karra and K. Niteshwar have highlighted the possible role of some herbs in the management of Alzheimer's disease.[13]

jaims_2268_01.JPGFigure 1: Year wise publications

On analysis of keywords out of total 1076 terms, nine keywords were found to occur more than ten times (Table: 3). ‘Ayurveda’ was found to have maximum occurrences (32 times) followed by ‘Disease’ (20 occurrences), ‘Health’ (16 occurrences), ‘Old age’ (14 occurrences), ‘Geriatric’ (12 occurrences) and ‘geriatric care’ (12 occurrences). The occurrence of these keywords indicates the most of the publications were focused on the health in old age and also on the disease conditions in old age and their possible corrections through Ayurveda.


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The organization or institutes which contribute the maximum were ‘Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences’ and ‘Gujrat Ayurved University’, both these organization published the maximum two documents on Geriatrics and Ayurveda. The maximum citation received by the documents was from ‘Institute of Medical Sceince, Banaras Hindu Univerity.’

Table 1: Publications source journals and their citations

SN Source Documents Citations
1. Biogerontology 1 113
2. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 1 62
3. Ancient Science of Life 1 16
4. International Journal of Ayurvedic Medicine 2 5
5. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 1 5
6. Bhāratīya āYurvijñāna Sampadā Patrikā 1 3
7. Ayu (an international quarterly journal of research in ayurveda) 3 2
8. International Research Journal of Pharmacy 2 2
9. National Journal of Research in Ayurved Science 6 1
10. Journal of Research in Ayurvedic Sciences 1 1
11. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences 3 0
12. International Ayurvedic Medical Journal 2 0
13. International Journal of Scientific Research 2 0
14. Himalayan Journal of Health Sciences 1 0
15. International Journal of Ayurveda and Pharma Research 1 0
16. International Journal of Research in Ayurveda and Pharmacy 1 0
17. International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences & Technology 1 0
18. International Surgery Journal 1 0
19. Journal of Primary Care Specialties 1 0
20. Sciences of Pharmacy 1 0
21. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews 1 0
22. World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research 1 0

Table 2: Authors, their documents and citations

SN Author Documents Citations
1. Narsimhamurthy, K. 1 113
2. Singh, Girish 1 113
3. Singh, Ram Harsh 1 113
4. Manyam, Bala V. 1 62
5. Joshi, Hemang 1 16
6. Karra, Rahul Dutt 1 16
7. Nishteswar, K. 1 16
8. Banerjee, Payel 1 5
9. Burdak, Shanker Lal 1 5
10. Das, Tapas 1 5
11. Gupta, Nisha 1 5
12. Maity, Soumya 1 5
13. Mazumder, Santasree 1 5

Table 3: Keywords and their occurrences

SN Keywords Occurrences
1. Ayurveda 32
2. Disease 20
3. Health 16
4. Old age 14
5. Geriatric 12
6. Geriatric care 12
7. Rasayana 12
8. Body 11
9. Management 10

Conclusion

The number of publications on geriatric Ayurvedic care over the past two decades has been very limited, and the original research on this topic has also been found to be relatively scant. No associations between researchers and organizations were discovered in our investigation, and the studies and publications were identified in various locations. This paper provides details on the Ayurvedic and herbal medicine for geriatrics publications and research trends, as well as the organization and research frontiers in this area. As a conclusion, it can be concluded that while there is no denying that Ayurveda is among the greatest complementary therapies for geriatric care and illnesses associated to ageing, there is still a need for more thorough and exclusive geriatric research.

Reference

1. W.H.O Report, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health

2. Ingle GK, Nath A. Geriatric health in India: concerns and solutions. Indian J Community Med. 2008; 33(4):214-8.

3. Dey AB. Handbook of Geriatrics, 1st edition. Hyderabad, India: Paras Medical Publisher; 2007; 118.

4. The staff reporter. Dementia: a threat looming large. The Hindu Daily 2003 Feb16; Southern states: p10 col. 2 -3.

5. Shastri Ambikadutta Edited Sushruta Samhita of Sushruta with Ayurvedtatvasandipika commentary. Vol. 1. Chaukhamba Sanskrit Sansthan, Varanasi. Reprint edition. Sutra Sthana, 2007; 24(8): 101.



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6. Shastri Ambikadutta Edited Sushruta Samhita of Sushruta with Ayurvedtatvasandipika commentary. Vol. 1. Chaukhamba Sanskrit Sansthan, Varanasi. Reprint edition Sutra Sthana, 2007; 35(35): 134

7. Shastri Kashinath, Chaturvedi Gorakhnath edited Charak Samhita of Agnivesha, Revised by Charak and Dridhabala, Part I, Chaukhamba Bharati Academy, Varanasi, Reprint Vimana Sthana, 2004; 8(122): 782.

8. Shastri Ambikadutta Edited Sushruta Samhita of Sushruta with Ayurvedtatvasandipika commentary. Vol. 1. Chaukhamba Sanskrit Sansthan, Varanasi. Reprint edition 2007. Sutra Sthana, 2007; 35(36): 135

9. Vagbhatta, Astang hridayam Vol.1, Chaukhmbha Orientaliya, Varanasi, 2010, Sutrasthan 1(5) page 1.

10. W.H.O report, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health.

11. Singh RH, Narsimhamurthy K, Singh G. Neuronutrient impact of Ayurvedic Rasayana therapy in brain aging. Biogerontology. 2008 Dec;9(6):369-74. doi: 10.1007/s10522-008-9185-z. Epub 2008 Oct 18. PMID: 18931935

12. Bala V. Manyam. Dementia in Ayurveda. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.Feb 1999.81-88

13. Nishteswar K, Joshi H, Karra RD. Role of indigenous herbs in the management of Alzheimer's disease. Anc Sci Life. 2014 Jul-Sep;34(1):3-7. doi: 10.4103/0257-7941.150763. PMID: 25737604; PMCID: PMC4342646.


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