Scientometrics
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Aug 19, 2023; 13(8): 593-606
Published online Aug 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i8.593
Global research trends and mapping knowledge structure of depression in dialysis patients
Samah W Al-Jabi
Samah W Al-Jabi, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Author contributions: Al-Jabi SW developed the concept for the manuscript, reviewed the literature, formulated research questions, collected the data, conducted analyses and interpreted the data. The author read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest to declare.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The author has 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: Samah W Al-Jabi, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Academic Street, Nablus 44839, Palestine. samahjabi@yahoo.com
Received: April 17, 2023
Peer-review started: April 17, 2023
First decision: June 1, 2023
Revised: June 27, 2023
Accepted: July 14, 2023
Article in press: July 14, 2023
Published online: August 19, 2023
Processing time: 121 Days and 13.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Depression is one of the most common and important psychological issues faced by dialysis patients. It can make it more difficult for them to adhere to their treatment regimen, which, in turn, can worsen their physical symptoms and lead to poorer health outcomes.

AIM

To examine the evolution and growth of publications related to dialysis and depression. The objectives were to identify the number of publications, the top active countries, the contributed institutions, funding agencies and journals, as well as to perform citation and research theme analysis.

METHODS

The search was conducted using the Scopus database for publications related to dialysis and depression between 1970 and 2022. Subsequently, bibliometric analysis was carried out on the data obtained using VOSviewer software, version 1.6.9. This analysis included visualization analysis, co-occurrence analysis and examination of publication trends in dialysis and depression.

RESULTS

We identified 800 publications that met the search criteria. The number of publications related to dialysis and depression has increased significantly in the past two decades. The USA led the way with 144 publications, which is 18% of all publications on this topic. Turkey came second with 88 publications (11%), followed by China with 55 publications (6.88%) and Iran with 52 publications (6.5%). Analysis of the research theme identified three main clusters related to gender differences in prevalence, identification of depression as a risk factor, and effective interventions to relieve depression. Future research direction analysis shows a shift toward effective interventions to relieve depression in dialysis patients.

CONCLUSION

This study provides a comprehensive overview of growth, trends and research themes related to dialysis and depression that could help researchers identify gaps in the literature and develop future research.

Keywords: Dialysis; Depression; Bibliometric; Hot issues; Scopus

Core tip: Depression is a prevalent psychological problem among dialysis patients, and it can negatively impact their adherence to treatment and health outcomes. A total of 800 publications were identified through a bibliometric analysis of dialysis- and depression-related publications between 1970 and 2022. In the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of publications, and the USA led the way. The identified research themes were gender differences in depression prevalence, the identification of depression as a risk factor, and effective interventions to treat depression. Effective interventions to ameliorate depression in dialysis patients will be the focus of future research endeavors.