Abstract

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a global public health problem with an increasing disease burden due to socioeconomic, cultural, and political disparities in access to diagnosis, treatment, and care services. These inequalities, which negatively affect the course of the disease in low-income and disadvantaged groups, increase global morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to map the scientific literature produced on CKD and socioeconomic inequalities globally using bibliometric analysis methods and to determine research trends. Within the scope of the study, the Web of Science (WoS) database was used to search for studies published up to February 3, 2025, without any start date restriction. A search using keywords examining the interaction between CKD and socioeconomic inequalities yielded 1,341 studies. After applying the inclusion criteria, the remaining 1,260 articles were analyzed using the RStudio-based Biblioshiny module. The analyses show that the number of publications on the subject has been steadily increasing since 1985, and that the topic has become prominent on the global health agenda, particularly in the last decade (2015-2025). The United States of America (USA) leads in the number of publications. However, it was found that contributions to the literature from low- and middle income countries with a high disease burden remain limited. Keyword analyses revealed that the concepts of “mortality,” “access,” and “racial disparities” were prominent. While studies focusing on socioeconomic determinants in CKD research are increasing, the geographic distribution of this increase is disproportionate to the global disease burden. Increasing academic collaborations targeting regions with high disease burden but low research output is critical for the development of health policies.

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