With the acceleration of population aging, multiple chronic diseases have become common in the elderly, and the research on multiple chronic diseases in the elderly is also increasing. However, few studies have been conducted to analyze its progress and hotspots.

To analyze the hotspots of multiple chronic diseases in the elderly at home and abroad, revealing the hotspots in frontiers research, so as to provide a reference for related researchers to track cutting-edge information.

The literatures related to multiple chronic diseases in the elderly were retrieved from Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, PubMed, Chinese Medical Association Journal Full-text database, and APA-PsycINFO database of the American Psychological Association with the retrieval time of 2010-2021, based on text mining technology and bibliometrics method, etc. CiteSpace 6.1.3, PASW 18, BICOMB 2.04 and other software were used to analyze and visualize the trends in number of papers published, sources, authors, institutions, keywords and other aspects of literature publication. Strategic coordinate maps were drawn to analyze research hotspots in the field.

Finally, 9 392 literatures related to multiple chronic diseases in the elderly were involved, including 5 776 literatures in foreign language and 3 616 literatures in Chinese. The numbers of literatures related to multiple chronic diseases in the elderly both in foreign language and Chinese have increased exponentially in the past decade, with the annual growth rate of 13.27% in Chinese literature and 15.84% in foreign literature, suggesting the development stage of multiple chronic diseases in the elderly. Five mainstream research hotspots have been identified in both Chinese and foreign literatures. There are more literatures related to multiple chronic disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and respiratory diseases. The foreign literatures have focused more on the psychiatric comorbidity, followed by somatic comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and heart failure.

The analysis results shows that the field of multiple chronic diseases in the elderly is in a rapid development stage. Analysis of foreign literature shows that psychiatric comorbidity is a relatively hot topic but not mature enough, research results related to multiple chronic diseases in the elderly are abundant and diversified, but the research depth is in sufficient. Domestic literature analysis shows that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease combined with respiratory diseases in the elderly is at the core of the field, and there is a lack of studies related to psychiatric comorbidity such as depression and mutiple chronic diseases such as health situation, nursing and health care, which may become the main direction of research development in the future.

随着人口老龄化进程的加快，同时患有多种慢病已成为老年人的常态，老年多重慢病相关研究也不断丰富，但鲜有对其研究进展及热点进行分析。

分析国内外老年多重慢病的研究热点，揭示近十年来（2010—2021年）老年多重慢病领域研究前沿的热点主题，为相关研究者追踪前沿信息提供参考。

基于文本挖掘技术和文献计量学等方法，检索Web of Science核心合集、Scopus、中国知网、万方数据知识服务平台、维普网、PubMed、中华医学会期刊全文数据库、APA-PsycINFO美国心理学会数据库中老年多重慢病领域的相关文献，检索时间为2010—2021年。使用CiteSpace 6.1.3、PASW 18、BICOMB 2.04等软件对文献的发文量趋势、来源、作者、机构、关键词等方面进行分析及可视化，并绘制战略坐标图对领域研究热点进行分析。

最终纳入老年多重慢病相关文献9 392篇，其中外文文献5 776篇，中文文献3 616篇。2010—2021年老年多重慢病领域中外文献发文量均呈指数型增长，中文文献年增长率为13.27%，外文文献年增长率为15.84%，该领域正处于发展阶段。中外文献均挖掘出5个主流研究热点，国内研究慢性阻塞性肺疾病、糖尿病、高血压、肺部疾病等慢性病共病的相关文献较多，国外则研究精神疾病共病情况的较多，其次是糖尿病、高血压、心力衰竭等躯体疾病共病状况。

国内外老年多重慢病领域的研究正处于快速发展阶段。分析国外文献显示精神疾病共病虽为相对研究热点但不够成熟，老年多重慢病相关研究成果丰富且多元，但研究深度有所不足。分析国内文献显示老年慢性阻塞性肺疾病合并呼吸系统疾病处于研究领域的核心，糖尿病、高血压等慢性病共病相关研究还不够成熟，对抑郁症等精神疾病相关共病以及慢性病共病患者的健康状况、护理、保健等相关研究有所欠缺，可能成为未来研究发展的主要方向。