Global status of research on gastrointestinal cancer patients' quality of life: A bibliometric and visual analysis from 2003 to 2023

Xiaoqin Wang; Caihua Wang; Wenjin Han; Jiaru Sun; Zhaozhao Hui; Shuangyan Lei; Huili Wu; Xiaohong Liu

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23377

Global status of research on gastrointestinal cancer patients' quality of life: A bibliometric and visual analysis from 2003 to 2023

Heliyon. 2023 Dec 6;10(1):e23377. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23377. eCollection 2024 Jan 15.

Authors

Xiaoqin Wang^{1

2}, Caihua Wang², Wenjin Han², Jiaru Sun², Zhaozhao Hui³, Shuangyan Lei⁴, Huili Wu⁵, Xiaohong Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
² School of Nursing, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, China.
³ School of Public Health, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, China.
⁴ Department of Radiotherapy, Shaanxi Cancer Hospital, Xi'an, China.
⁵ Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the current research status, hotspots, and frontiers in the field of Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and quality of life (QoL) through the bibliometrics method, and to provide references and guidance for future research.

Methods: Literature related to GI cancer and QoL from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2023 was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. CiteSpace 6.2.R1 was performed for collaboration analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and document co-citation analysis.

Results: A total of 1224 publications were included in this study. There has been a significant increase in the number of publications in this field over the past two decades. The United States, the Karolinska Institute and the University of Amsterdam, and Pernilla Lagergren are the most prolific country, institution, and author, respectively. The links between most of the research constituents were relatively thin (centrality <0.1). The keyword analysis indicates that the benefits of physical activity on QoL, the levels of psychological distress and its relationship with QoL, as well as the development and validation of QoL measurement tools have been the research hotspots. Open-label/double-blind trials exploring therapeutic interventions and more targeted new drugs or more effective drug combinations, and longitudinal studies determining the direction of the association between psychological distress and QoL at different time points, may be emerging trends in this field.

Conclusion: The cooperation among countries, institutions, and authors in this field should be strengthened. In addition, the health benefits of light physical activity, interventions for QoL, trajectory and direction of the relationship between psychological distress and QoL may be the focus of future research.

Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Frontiers; Gastrointestinal cancer; Quality of life.