Current Status of Thalassemia Minor Studies

Abstract

Thalassemia minor carriage is one of the most common causes of anemia in Mediterranean countries. This study aimed to investigate the publications in scientific journals on thalassemia minor, which is an important health problem, especially in Mediterranean countries. The goal of this study was to retrieve data from journals that were indexed in the Web of Science (WoS; Thomson Reuters, New York, NY, USA) database. The WOS Core Collection was used to retrieve comprehensive bibliometric data. Keywords related to "beta-thalassemia carrier," or "beta-thalassemia trait," thalassemia minor" or "heterozygous beta-thalassemia" were used in a search query in the WOS search engine. The time frame was specified since 10 March 2022. The analysis included information on the increase of publications, the most active countries and institutions, the most cited journals, and the mapping of publications and keywords. A total of 8618 publications were retrieved. The first article was published in 1970, and the period between 1970 and 2021 was searched. The maximum number of publications was published in the year 2021. The number of publications had increased since 2009. Most of the publications were articles (61.696 %). The publications were from more than 100 disciplines and most of them were from Hematology (49.176%). The publications were from 274 different countries. Most of the publications were from the USA, Italy, and Greece. The USA is at the top of the list in the number of publications. But with active funding and support from the governments especially the Mediterranean countries, which have a higher prevalence of thalassemia minor, the productivity of scientific research should be increased.