The impact of COVID-19-related chronic disease is gradually emerging: discovery and trends from a bibliometric analysis

Guangcheng Huang; Yue Yang; Fan Cheng; Qian Li; Yuqing Shao; Xiaoqiong Zhang; Haidong Kuang; Hongjie Yu; Yuan Liu; Yanhong Zhu; Yipeng Lv

The impact of COVID-19-related chronic disease is gradually emerging: discovery and trends from a bibliometric analysis

Am J Transl Res. 2023 Dec 15;15(12):6905-6910. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Guangcheng Huang¹, Yue Yang², Fan Cheng³, Qian Li¹, Yuqing Shao¹, Xiaoqiong Zhang⁴, Haidong Kuang⁴, Hongjie Yu⁵, Yuan Liu⁶, Yanhong Zhu⁷, Yipeng Lv¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, P. R. China.
² Purchasing Center of Shanghai Chest Hospital (Chest Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine) Shanghai, P. R. China.
³ Department of Endodontics, Stomatological Hospital and Dental School of Tongji University, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Tooth Restoration and Regeneration Shanghai, P. R. China.
⁴ Yichuan Community Health Service Center Shanghai, P. R. China.
⁵ Jiading District Center for Disease Control and Prevention Shanghai, P. R. China.
⁶ Faculty of Health Service, Naval Medical University of The Chinese People's Liberation Army Shanghai, P. R. China.
⁷ Department of Scientific Research Management, Shanghai General Hospital Shanghai, P. R. China.

PMID: 38186985
PMCID: PMC10767523

Abstract

Objective: To conduct a literature survey of COVID-19-related chronic diseases to inform future research.

Methods: Publications on COVID-19 and chronic disease were retrieved from PubMed using MeSH Major Topic, including the terms COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Chronic Disease and Noncommunicable Diseases. Bibliometric features, journals, research areas, countries, funding agencies and citation reports, were extracted from Web of Science and highly cited papers identified and summarized. Fisher's exact probability test was used to associate highly cited papers with countries.

Results: A total of 1034 English-language publications were included. Urology/nephrology was the most active research area (n=230), PLOS ONE the most frequently involved journal (n=29) and the United States of America (USA) had the greatest research output (n=223). A medium number of publications were in the areas of hematology and immunology and these papers had a high citation rate. No statistically significant difference was found in the ratio of highly cited papers: total papers across high-output countries (P=0.668). The USA, Europe and China were the sources of the most highly cited articles and productive funding agencies.

Conclusions: The influence of COVID-19 on chronic disease has received considerable attention. Hematology and immunology may continue to be productive research fields. Much research remains to be done to characterize the emerging chronic effects of COVID-19 on human health.

Keywords: COVID-19; PubMed; Web of Science; bibliometrics; chronic disease.