Comprehensive analysis of research related to rehabilitation and COVID-19, hotspots, mapping, thematic evolution, trending topics, and future directions

BACKGROUND: This study conducted a comprehensive analysis of research pertaining to the intersection of rehabilitation and COVID-19 (COV-REH). The main aim of this study is to analyze the thematic progression and hotspots, detect emerging topics, and suggest possible future research directions in the COV-REH. METHODS: Appropriate keywords were selected based on the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) PubMed database and the Scopus database were used to retrieve a total of 3746 original studies conducted in the English language. The data extraction was performed on June 30, 2023. VOSviewer and Bibliometrix utilize CVS and BibTex files to facilitate the performance analysis and generate visual maps. The performance indicators reported for the research components of the COV-REH were compiled using the Scopus Analytics tool. RESULTS: From 2003 to 2023, 3470 authors from 160 organizations in 119 countries generated 3764 original research documents, with an annual growth of 53.73%. 1467 sources identified these scholarly works. Vitacca, M. (Italy), Harvard University (USA), and the USA published the most articles. This study included 54.1% of medical scholars. Telerehabilitation, exercise, quality of life, case reports, anxiety, and pulmonary rehabilitation were the primary themes of the COV-REH. One component of “telerehabilitation” is now the cardiac rehabilitation cluster. The trending topics in COV-REH are “symptoms,” “protocol,” and “community-based rehabilitation”. CONCLUSIONS: This study proposed several significant research directions based on the current thematic map and its evolution. Given that COV-REH investigations have been determined to be multidisciplinary, this study contributes conceptually to several fields and has wide-ranging implications for practitioners and policymakers.