Basic life support research trends in Korea

Background: Basic life support (BLS) is a critical emergency procedure that significantly increases survival rates during cardiac emergencies. Despite its importance, research trends remain largely underexplored. Methods: We analyzed 121 peer-reviewed Korean research articles (2014–2023) using latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling. Relevant articles were retrieved from five major Korean academic databases (Database Periodical Information Academic, Korean Studies Information Service System, Research Information Sharing Systems, Korea Citation Index and Science Online) ensuring a comprehensive analysis of domestic research trends. Keywords from the abstracts and titles were extracted and processed for topic modeling and network text analysis. Results: Three primary topics were identified: BLS Education and Training, Emergency Treatment and Life-Sustaining Measures, and Emergency Situations and Experience. The focus on “Emergency Situations and Experience” declined from 65.79% (2014–2016) to 55.88% (2020–2023), while studies on “BLS Education and Training” increased from 21.05% to 32.35% over the same period. Conclusions: We identified a shift in research priorities from experience-based studies to structured education and training programs. This trend demonstrates the growing emphasis on standardized BLS training methodologies to improve the effectiveness of emergency response efforts.