Topic Modeling of Foot & Ankle International: An AI-Driven Analysis of Journal Topics & Trends

Category: Other Introduction/Purpose: Natural Language Processing (NLP) can aid in navigating and synthesizing vast amounts of text data. Topic modeling, a subset of NLP, can identify topics and trends that might otherwise remain obscured in large text datasets. These techniques can be used to assess the dynamic and rapidly growing landscape of the orthopedic literature quickly and objectively. The field of foot and ankle orthopaedic research is rapidly changing with the evolution and implementation of new techniques and implants. This study employed an advanced topic model (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers Topic (BERTopic) Model), to analyze the trends and key topics in Foot & Ankle International literature from 1980 to 2023. Methods: Text from the titles and abstracts of 4945 original articles & reviews published from 1980 to 2023 were included and used to train the BERTopic AI model. AI-generated topics were then analyzed by frequency (i.e. number of studies classified to that topic) & popularity (i.e. “hot” & “cold” topic trends, based on linear regression models of topic frequency from 2018-2023). The BERTopic model yielded 41 distinct topics. Results: The top 10 most common topics from 1980-2023 (Figure 1A) were Hallux Valgus: Treatment, Ankle Replacement, Diabetic Foot Disease, Achilles Injury and Treatment, Plantar Fasciitis, Pes Planus: Treatment, Calcaneal Fractures, Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus, Plantar Foot Pressure, and Peroneal Tendon Tears. The most popular or “hot” topics from 2018-2023 (Figure 1B) were Pes Planus: Radiographical Assessment of Foot Alignment, Hallux Valgus: Biomechanics, Ankle Arthrodesis, Ankle Instability: Deltoid Ligament, Ankle Replacement, Achilles Injury and Treatment, Tarsal Tunnel, Bone Grafting, Supramalleolar Osteotomy, and Peroneal Tendon Tears; while the least popular or “cold” topics were Ankle Replacement: Surveys, Hallux Valgus: Treatment, Calcaneal Fractures, Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus, Hallux Rigidus: Treatment, Chronic Ankle Instability, Foot and Ankle-specific Patient Reported Outcome Measures, Syndesmotic Instability, and Lisfranc Injuries. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the power of AI in efficiently distilling and analyzing evolving research topics and trends, as well as the dynamic nature of foot and ankle orthopaedic research. The hottest topics over the past 5 years were Pes Planus: Radiographical Assessment of Foot Alignment, Hallux Valgus: Biomechanics, Ankle Arthrodesis, and Ankle Instability. However, recent years have seen increases in publications regarding total ankle replacement. These techniques may be used to complement traditional literature reviews and meta-analyses.