Abstract: Objective To understand the research status,hotspots and trends in the field of health education in institutions of higher learning at home and abroad,and to provide reference for research in this field. Methods CiteSpace software was used to search for research literature on health education in higher education institutions from 2018 to 2023 based on China National Knowledge Infrastructure（CNKI） and Web of Science databases,and the visual analysis was conducted from five perspectives：the number of papers published annually,authors,publishing institutions,research hotspots,development trends and frontiers. Results There were a total of 214 Chinese literature and 1 761 English literature,and the overall annual publication volume showed an increasing trend. In terms of cooperation between authors and institution,foreign cooperation was slightly better than domestic cooperation. The common hot research topics in this field both domestically and internationally were health promotion,health literacy,and mental health. Domestic research hotspots were gradually evolved from macro education to specific health education means exploration and top-level design,while foreign research hotspots were gradually evolved from traditional health education to network and digital health education. Conclusion In recent 5 years,the research in the field of health education in institutions of higher learning has been increasing. Influenced by the background of "internet plus" mode,to seek the innovation of working ideas and methods of health education,and to cultivate students' ability to obtain health-related information based on the network have been a hotspot and trend at home and abroad in the past two years. At the same time,it is necessary to pay attention to strengthening the communication between authors and cooperation among institutions to expand the depth and breadth of research.

Key words: Health education, Institutions of higher learning, Knowledge map, Hot topics, CiteSpace