Cardiovascular disease research in Latin America: a comparative bibliometric analysis.

AIM To investigate the number of publications in cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last decade. METHODS We performed a bibliometric analysis in PubMed from 2001 to 2010 for Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States, Canada, Europe, China, and India. RESULTS Latin America published 4% of articles compared with 26% from the United States/Canada and 42% from Europe. In CVD, Latin America published 4% of articles vs 23% from the United States/Canada and 40% from Europe. The number of publications in CVD in Latin America increased from 41 in 2001 to 726 in 2010. CONCLUSION Latin America, while publishing more articles than previously, lags behind developed countries. Further advances in research infrastructure are necessary to develop prevention strategies for this region.