Abstract
Osteoporosis is an important health problem with serious consequences. Evaluation of osteoporosis scientific output from Arab countries has not been explored and there are few internationally published reports on research activity about osteoporosis. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the research output originating from Arab countries and 3 Middle Eastern non-Arab countries, particularly Israel, Turkey and Iran in the field of osteoporosis. Original scientific articles or reviews published from the 21 Arab countries, Israel, Turkey and Iran about “osteoporosis” were screened using the ISI Web of Science database. The time frame for the result was up to year 2012. The total number of original and review research articles published globally about osteoporosis was 43,571. The leading country in osteoporosis research was United States of America (14,734; 33.82%). Worldwide, Turkey ranked 16th while Israel and Iran ranked 24th and 31st respectively. Among Arab countries, Egypt and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came on positions 41 and 45 respectively. A total of 426 documents about “osteoporosis” were published from Arab countries which represents 0.98% of the global research output. Research about osteoporosis from Arab countries was very low until 2002 and then increased steadily. The total number of citations for osteoporosis documents from the Arab world was 5551 with an average citation of 13.03 per document and an h- index of 35. Thirty (7.04%) documents published from Arab countries about osteoporosis were published in Saudi Medical Journal. Egypt, with a total publication of 117 (27.47%) ranked first among the Arab countries in research about osteoporosis while American University in Beirut was the most productive institution with a total of 47 (11.03%) documents. Compared with other non-Arab countries in the Middle East, the research productivity from the Arab countries was lesser than that from Turkey and Israel but higher than that from Iran. The present data showed low research productivity in osteoporosis field in Arab countries. Research output can be improved by investing in more international and national collaborative research projects in the field of osteoporosis.
Highlights
Osteoporosis is defined as a disease characterized by low bone mass and micro architectural deterioration of bone tissue, enhanced bone fragility and an increase in fracture risk (Kanis 1994; NIH Consensus Development Panel on Osteoporosis Prevention 2001)
The 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Status report have discussed in detail the increased mortality and morbidity of many non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular, cancer and diabetes but osteoporosis was not mentioned in the report (WHO 2011)
The total number of documents retrieved from Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science using the methodology stated and without specifying the name of any country was 43,571
Summary
Osteoporosis is defined as a disease characterized by low bone mass and micro architectural deterioration of bone tissue, enhanced bone fragility and an increase in fracture risk (Kanis 1994; NIH Consensus Development Panel on Osteoporosis Prevention 2001). The 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Status report have discussed in detail the increased mortality and morbidity of many non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular, cancer and diabetes but osteoporosis was not mentioned in the report (WHO 2011). 1.6 million hip fractures occur worldwide each year and this number could triple or quadruple and reach between 4.5 and 6.3 million by the year 2050 which make osteoporosis a global disease (Roux et al 2012). In Middle East, the problem of osteoporosis will soon be of greater importance considering the steady growth of the ageing population ((Maalouf et al 2007); IOF 2011a, 2012). Iran accounts for 0.85% of the global burden of hip fractures and 12.4% of the burden of hip fractures in the Middle East (Soveid et al 2005; Moayyeri et al 2006; Ahmadi-Abhari et al 2007; Beyranvand & Mohammadi 2009; Shahnazari et al 2013). Hypovitaminosis D is highly prevalent in Middle Eastern countries and might be a strong contributing factor for osteoporosis (Gannage-Yared et al 2000)
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