Sexual health problems of patients with cancer: A bibliometrics study and visualization analysis via CiteSpace

Ying Li; Mingyue Liu; Yanxia Sun; Dandan Guo; Min Li

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20856

Sexual health problems of patients with cancer: A bibliometrics study and visualization analysis via CiteSpace

Heliyon. 2023 Oct 11;9(10):e20856. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20856. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Ying Li¹, Mingyue Liu¹, Yanxia Sun¹, Dandan Guo¹, Min Li¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Gynecological Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Centre for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin's Clinical Research Centre for Cancer, Tianjin, 300060, China.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the data acquired and clarified the current research status of sexual health problems in patients with cancer, to provide a comprehensive visual perspective suitable as a reference for subsequent research.

Methods: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) up to April 30, 2023 to identify studies associated with sexual health problems in patients with cancer. CiteSpace was used to create visualization networks for countries, institutions, authors, and journals.

Results: A total of 3183 publications related to sexual health problems in patients with cancer were collected from the WoSCC. In terms of volume, the USA (1259 papers) was the leading country, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (119 papers) was the leading institution, and Carter (39 papers) was the author with the most publications. The top-cited references and keywords were related to quality of life. The top five clusters of reference cocitation were 'brachytherapy', 'prostate cancer', 'radical prostatectomy', 'hypogonadism', and 'breast cancer'. Meanwhile, the top five clusters of keyword cocitation were 'breast cancer', 'prostate cancer', 'rectal cancer', 'testicular cancer', and 'sexual function'. The analysis of the top 25 references and keywords with the strongest citation bursts of published papers on sexual health problems in patients with cancer to reveal the research hotspots and trends.

Conclusions: Research on sexual health among patients with cancer is constantly developing. The current research focuses on the impact of different treatment options for sexual health and quality of life of patients with breast, rectal, and genitourinary neoplasms. Exploring the long-term changing regularities of sexual function among cancer survivors and formulating sexual health interventions toward patient-reported outcomes and needs are key research directions.

Keywords: Bibliometrics; CiteSpace; Patients with cancer; Sexual health; Visualization analysis.