Death anxiety among older adults: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis

Death anxiety is a significant psychological concern in later life, shaped by aging, illness, and awareness of mortality. Despite growing scholarly attention, no comprehensive bibliometric analysis has examined research on death anxiety among older adults. This study analyzes publications from 1990 to 2025 using data from Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. After database merging, deduplication, and manual screening of titles and abstracts to ensure population specificity, a final dataset of 577 documents was analyzed using the Bibliometrix R package. Results reveal steadily increasing scientific output, particularly after 2012 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Omega—Journal of Death and Dying and Death Studies were the most productive journals, while the United States, Iran, China, Israel, and Türkiye were leading contributors. Keyword and thematic analyses indicate a mature but evolving field centered on death anxiety, aging, mental health, and quality of life, with emerging themes such as ageism, loneliness, and end-of-life care.