Contribution of Eastern Mediterranean Region countries to palliative care journals from 1991 to 2020 and its relationship to the development of palliative care

Samy A Alsirafy; Amneh D Hassan; Mahmoud Y Sroor; Ismail Samy; Somaia M A Mousa

doi:10.1186/s12904-022-01016-0

Contribution of Eastern Mediterranean Region countries to palliative care journals from 1991 to 2020 and its relationship to the development of palliative care

BMC Palliat Care. 2022 Jul 12;21(1):123. doi: 10.1186/s12904-022-01016-0.

Authors

Samy A Alsirafy¹, Amneh D Hassan², Mahmoud Y Sroor^{3

4}, Ismail Samy⁵, Somaia M A Mousa⁶

Affiliations

¹ Palliative Medicine Unit, Kasr Al-Ainy Center of Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. alsirafy@kasralainy.edu.eg.
² Palliative Care Unit, Hemato-Oncology Department, King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Palliative Care Medicine, Oncology Centre, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Clinical Oncology Department, Kasr Al-Ainy Center of Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁵ Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁶ Clinical Pathology Department, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: Palliative care (PC) is in an early stage of development in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the World Health Organization. A metric based on publishing in specialized PC journals may be useful in assessing PC development. This study was conducted to describe the contribution of EMR countries to PC research and to study the relationship between this contribution and the levels of PC development.

Methods: The Scopus database was used to search 21 PC journals (1991-2020) for articles with at least one EMR-affiliated author independently of his/her position in the article. As an indicator, the 3-year average articles per million population per year (AAMY) was calculated. Changes over time were calculated through a regression analysis. The relationship between the AAMY and the level of PC development and opioid consumption were assessed through Mann-Witney test using the worldmap PC development categories as a proxy, and Spearman analysis, respectively.

Results: The number of articles published during the 30-year period was 31,108 of which 402 (1.3%) were EMR-affiliated. There was a steady rise in the AAMY of the EMR (R² = 0.894). The number of EMR-affiliated articles increased from 3 in the period 1991-1995 to 191 in 2016-2020. The 2018-2020 AAMY was significantly higher in countries with greater PC development than in those without (median [IQR] = 0.0975 [0.0254-0.1802] and 0.0098 [0-0.0256], p = 0.042). Also, it was significantly higher in countries that progressed to a higher level of PC development between 2006 and 2017 (p = 0.0159). There was a significant positive correlation between the average opioid consumption for the years 2017-2019 and the AAMY for the same period (p = 0.0043).

Conclusions: There is a slow steady progress in the contribution of EMR countries to PC journals, which corresponds to the level of PC development and its progress in the region. A metric based on the contribution to specialized PC journals may be a useful indicator of PC development.

Keywords: Development; Eastern mediterranean; Indicators; Palliative Care; Scientific publishing.

MeSH terms

Analgesics, Opioid
Female
Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing*
Humans
Male
Mediterranean Region / epidemiology
Palliative Care
Periodicals as Topic*

Substances

Analgesics, Opioid