Abstract
BackgroundAtrophic gastritis (AG), which is characterized by a decreased number or disappearance of the glandular structures and secretory dysfunction, is linked to chronically inflamed stomach. It has been estimated that the annual incidence of gastric cancer (GC) is 0.1% for patients with AG. Early eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) can reduce the risk of GC development. Additionally, the follow-up and management of AG are necessary to prevent GC. Exploring novel methods of the automatized analysis of data for apprehending knowledge in any medical field is encouraged, especially when a body of literature suggests the necessity of doing so. Accordingly, herein, we aim to systematically review the current foci and status of AG research using bibliometric analysis.MethodsArticles and reviews related to AG published from 2011 to 2021 in the Web of Science Core Collection were retrieved. Microsoft Office Excel 2019 and GraphPad Prism were used to show the annual number of publications and scientific productivity of authors through time. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to generate network maps about the collaborations among countries, institutions, and authors as well as reveal hotspots of AG research. The relationships among the author's keywords, cited references, and the top authors were summarized by a Sankey plot (three-fields plot).ResultsA total of 1,432 publications were included in the present study. China remained the most productive country, with the highest number of publications (377, 26.32%). Vanderbilt University contributed the most publications of any single institution (56, 3.91%). James R Goldenring was the most active and influential scholar, with the highest number of publications and greatest centrality. The most prolific journal in this field was World Journal of Gastroenterology (62, 4.32%). Gastroenterology (997, 69.62%) was the most co-cited journal. Exploring the origin of gastric metaplasia, especially spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM) was a major topic in AG research.ConclusionsThis bibliometric study provides a comprehensive analysis of the scientific progress of AG over the past decade. Metaplasia is a hot topic and could be a promising area of research in the coming years.
Highlights
Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide [1]
Owing to the lack of overt and specific symptoms associated with GC, the majority of patients with GC are diagnosed at an advanced stage; even if advanced GC is treated with surgery, the 5-year survival rate remains at a low 20–30% [5, 6]
Gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia (IM) are collectively included in atrophic gastritis (AG) [8]
Summary
Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide [1]. A systematic review [10] of 14 prospective follow-up studies showed that the yearly incidence rates of AG range from 0 to 10.9%, and higher incidence rates have been observed in Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-positive individuals. Another systematic review [11] of 107 studies has shown that the worldwide estimate of the prevalence of AG in the general population is 33%, and estimates for AG are higher in countries with a high incidence of GC and H. pylori-positive individuals. A study from the Netherlands showed that the annual incidence of GC was 0.1% for patients with gastric atrophy and 0.25% for patients with IM [13]. A systematic review comprising 21 studies including 402,636 participants found that patients with IM had a higher risk of GC than those without IM [14]. We aim to systematically review the current foci and status of AG research using bibliometric analysis
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