A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on the Links Between Gut Microbiota and Atherosclerosis

Ya Wang; Dandan Li; Zijun Jia; Jiaqi Hui; Qiqi Xin; Qingbing Zhou; Weihong Cong; Fengqin Xu

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2022.941607

A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on the Links Between Gut Microbiota and Atherosclerosis

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022 Jul 12:9:941607. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.941607. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ya Wang¹, Dandan Li¹, Zijun Jia¹, Jiaqi Hui¹, Qiqi Xin^{2

3}, Qingbing Zhou¹, Weihong Cong^{2

3}, Fengqin Xu¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Geriatric, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
² Laboratory of Cardiovascular Diseases, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ National Clinical Research Center for Chinese Medicine Cardiology, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background: Emerging evidence has linked gut microbiota (GM) and its related metabolites to atherosclerosis (AS). This study aimed to analyze the evolution of GM in AS in the past decades, and provide valuable insights in this field.

Methods: Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) was applied to retrieve the publications related to GM in AS from their inception until 2 December 2021, and the data was analyzed in Microsoft Excel, Scimago Graphica, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer.

Results: In total, 560 documents were extracted from the WoSCC databases. The publications have shown rapid growth since 2008. China and Cleveland Clin were the most prolific country and institution, respectively. The journal with the most publications is Nutrients, and Nature was the most co-cited journal. Among 3556 related authors, Hazen, Stanley L., Tang, W. H. Wilson, and Wang, Zeneng were the top 3 contributing authors in this field. Aside from "gut microbiota," "atherosclerosis," the terms "TMAO," "metabolite," "obesity," and "phosphatidylcholine" were frequently occurred in the abstract and title of articles. Burst detection of keywords indicated that "metabolic syndrome," "acid," and "bile acid" were hot topics in recent years. According to the co-citation analysis of references, the research focus in this area has changed over time, and recent researches focus on choline, hypertension, butyrate, and berberine.

Conclusion: Our study showed that the researches of GM in AS have been flourishing, and the content themes were constantly deepened. Human GM is critical to atherosclerotic diseases, and this hot topic is still worthy of more focus in the future.

Keywords: Citespace; VOSviewer; atherosclerosis; bibliometric analysis; gut microbiota.