Research involving women and health in the Medline database, 1965–2005: co-term analysis and visualization of main lines of research

This paper shows the main lines of research concerning health and women, as registered in the Medline database, broken down into four 10-year periods: 1965–1974, 1975–1984, 1985–1994, and 1995–2005. The units of analysis used were the Medline “MeSH” major terms, processed by means of co-term analysis. For graphic representation, the social network approach was used, with pruning performed by Pathfinder Networks (PFNET), so as to concentrate the displays. Factor analysis was used to group the descriptors and identify the main lines of research involving health and women. The results show that research on Health and Women has increased and undergone significant changes over the past 40 years, yet such studies are not given due importance.