Recent trends in acupuncture for chronic pain: A bibliometric analysis and review of the literature

Liuyang Huang; Guixing Xu; Mingsheng Sun; Chunyan Yang; Qin Luo; Hao Tian; Zhuo Zhou; Yilin Liu; Fengyuan Huang; Fanrong Liang; Ziwen Wang

doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2023.102915

Recent trends in acupuncture for chronic pain: A bibliometric analysis and review of the literature

Complement Ther Med. 2023 Mar:72:102915. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2023.102915. Epub 2023 Jan 4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan 610075, PR China.
² Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan 610075, PR China; Clinical Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 610075, PR China. Electronic address: acuresearch@126.com.
³ Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan 610075, PR China; Clinical Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Sichuan 610075, PR China. Electronic address: Wangziwen@cdutcm.edu.can.

PMID: 36610367
DOI: 10.1016/j.ctim.2023.102915

Abstract

Background: Acupuncture has been increasingly used in patients with chronic pain, yet no bibliometric analysis of acupuncture studies for chronic pain exists.

Objectives: To investigate the characteristics, hotspots and frontiers of global scientific output in acupuncture research for chronic pain over the past decade.

Methods: We retrieved publications on acupuncture for chronic pain published from 2011 to 2022 from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-expanded) of the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). The co-occurrence relationships of journals/countries/institutions/authors/keywords were performed using VOSviewer V6.1.2, and CiteSpace V1.6.18 analyzed the clustering and burst analysis of keywords and co-cited references.

Results: A total of 1616 articles were retrieved. The results showed that the number of annual publications on acupuncture for chronic pain has increased over time, with the main types of literature being original articles (1091 articles, 67.5 %) and review articles (351 articles, 21.7 %). China had the most publications (598 articles, 37 %), with Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (93 articles, 5.8 %) and Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine ranked first (169 articles, 10.45 %) as the most prolific affiliate and journal, respectively. Liang FR was the most productive author (43 articles), and the article published by Vickers Andrew J in 2012 had the highest number of citations (625 citations). Recently, "acupuncture" and "pain" appeared most frequently. The hot topics in acupuncture for chronic pain based on keywords clustering analysis were experimental design, hot diseases, interventions, and mechanism studies. According to burst analysis, the main research frontiers were functional connectivity (FC), depression, and risk.

Conclusion: This study provides an in-depth perspective on acupuncture for chronic pain studies, revealing pivotal points, research hotspots, and research trends. Valuable ideas are provided for future research activities.

Keywords: Acupuncture; Bibliometric analysis; Chronic pain; Co-citation analysis; Review.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Acupuncture Therapy*
Bibliometrics
China
Chronic Pain* / therapy
Humans
Medicine, East Asian Traditional*