What are the trends in the treatment of multiple sclerosis in recent studies? - A bibliometric analysis with global productivity during 1980-2021.

BACKGROUND

There is no bibliometric analysis in the literature on the subject of the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), which is a disease with increasing prevalence, severely affecting the life and quality of life of patients. The purpose of this study was to analyze the scientific articles published on the subject of MS treatment, using bibliometric approaches and statistical methods, and thereby show the trend subjects and global productivity.

METHODS

From 14,443 publications on the subject of MS between 1980 and 2021, 5010 in the category of article were retrieved from the Web of Science and analyzed statistically. Bibliometric network visualization diagrams were created to determine trend subjects, collaborations between countries and citation analyzes. Exponential Smoothing estimation was used to predict the number of articles to be published in the next 5 years. Correlations were determined using Spearman's correlation analysis.

RESULTS

The 3 countries contributing the most to literature were found to be the USA (1385, 37.6%), Italy (700, 13.9%), and Germany (694, 13.8%). The most productive author was Hartung Hans-Peter (n = 82) and the most productive institution was the University of London (n = 198). The three most productive journals were the Multiple Sclerosis Journal (n = 354), Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders (n = 224), and Neurology (n = 204). The most studied subjects can be listed from past to present as interferon beta, disease-modifying treatment or drugs, relapsing, natalizumab, fingolimod, glatiramer acetate, fatigue, alemtuzumab, cytokines, mitoxantrone, MRI, adherence, depression, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, quality of life, and biomarkers.

CONCLUSION

The scientific production related to MS treatment shows growth chronologically over the years. According to the findings of the analysis done to identify trending subjects, the key words studied in recent years were determined to be fingolimod, alemtuzumab, disease-modifying therapy, ocrelizumab, teriflunomide, rituximab, dimethyl fumarate, safety, biomarkers, COVID-19, oxidative stress, inflammation, vitamin D, relapsing multiple sclerosis, cost-effectiveness, cladribine tablets, and medication adherence. Western countries, especially European countries, the USA, and Canada lead the way in research and scientific collaboration on the subject of MS treatment. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of this subject and can help provide new ideas for further studies.

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