Scientometrics
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 21, 2023; 29(27): 4356-4367
Published online Jul 21, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i27.4356
Research landscape on COVID-19 and liver dysfunction: A bibliometric analysis
Sa'ed H Zyoud
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Poison Control and Drug Information Center (PCDIC), College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Clinical Research Centre, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Author contributions: Zyoud S developed the concept for the manuscript, reviewed the literature, formulated research questions, collected the data, conducted analyses and interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript; Zyoud S read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sa'ed H Zyoud, PhD, Full Professor, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Academic Street, Nablus 44839, Palestine. saedzyoud@yahoo.com
Received: February 24, 2023
Peer-review started: February 24, 2023
First decision: May 23, 2023
Revised: June 16, 2023
Accepted: June 27, 2023
Article in press: June 27, 2023
Published online: July 21, 2023
Processing time: 138 Days and 12.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), poses a significant risk to public health. Beyond the respiratory issues initially associated with the condition, severe cases of COVID-19 can also lead to complications in other organs, including the liver. Patients with severe COVID-19 may exhibit various clinical signs of liver dysfunction, ranging from minor elevations in liver enzymes without symptoms to more serious cases of impaired liver function. Liver damage is more commonly observed in patients with severe or critical forms of the disease.

AIM

To present the research landscape on COVID-19 and liver dysfunction while also offering valuable insights into the prominent areas of interest within this particular domain.

METHODS

On 18 February 2023, Scopus was utilised to conduct a comprehensive exploration of the relationship between COVID-19 and the liver dysfunction. The investigation encompassed the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. Primary sources were meticulously examined and organised in a Microsoft Excel 2013 spreadsheet, categorised by journal, institution, funding agency, country and citation type. VOSviewer version 1.6.18 was employed to explore the prominent topics and knowledge network related to the subject.

RESULTS

There were 2336 publications on COVID-19 and liver dysfunction analysed in this study, of which 558 were published in 2020, 891 in 2021 and 887 in 2022. Researchers from 111 different countries participated in the retrieved documents. The United States contributed the most studies, with 497 documents, representing 21.28% of the total, followed by China with 393 documents (16.82%) and Italy with 255 documents (10.92%). In the context of research related to COVID-19 and the liver, co-occurrence analysis identified three distinct clusters of topics: (1) ‘COVID-19 vaccines in liver transplant recipients’; (2) ‘liver function tests as a predictor of the severity and clinical outcomes in hospitalised patients’; and (3) ‘care of patients with liver disease during the COVID-19 pandemic’.

CONCLUSION

This bibliometric study provides a comprehensive overview of liver-related publications in COVID-19 research over the past 3 years. This study highlights the significant contributions of high-income nations, particularly the United States, China, and Italy, to the production of liver-related scholarly literature in this field. Most of the articles focused on liver dysfunction in patients with COVID-19 and the implications of the virus for gastroenterologists and hepatologists.

Keywords: COVID-19; Bibliometric; Scopus; Vosviewer; Liver

Core Tip: Severe cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to liver dysfunction, and this study provides a comprehensive overview of liver-related publications in COVID-19 research. The findings highlight the significant contributions of high-income countries, such as the United States, China, and Italy, to the production of liver-related scholarly literature in this field. The research clusters identified in the study focus on COVID-19 vaccines in liver transplant recipients, liver function tests as predictors of severity and clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients, and the care of patients with liver disease during the COVID-19 pandemic.