Global trends in gut microbiota and clostridioides difficile infection research: A visualized study

Background: Clostridioides (clostridium) difficile infection (CDI) is the most common cause of nosocomial diarrheal disease, which has become a public health problem worldwide; gut dysbiosis plays a central role in its pathophysiology. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications on gut microbiota and CDI to summarize the current status of research including research hotspots.Methods: Relevant publications from January 2004 to February 2022 were identified from the Web of Science Core Collection. Three bibliometric tools were used to perform visualization analyses.Results: A total of 1983 publications were analyzed. Annual publications increased from 11 in 2004-237 in 2021, with the US being the leading producer (47.55 % of all papers). EG Pamer had the highest average citations per article (average citations per item = 153.03, H-index = 29). Frontiers in Microbiology published the most papers. The main research foci were fecal microbiota transplantation, colonization resistance, and multidrug-resistant bacteria. The keywords with the highest frequency in recent years include: gut dysbiosis, antibiotic resistance, bile-acids, 16 s sequencing, multidrug-resistant bacteria, and short chain fatty acids.Conclusions: Gut microbiota and CDI is likely to remain a prominent area of research in the foreseeable future. Current research hotspots (fecal microbiota transplantation, colonization resistance, and multidrug-resistant bacteria) should receive even more attention in future studies.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. CC_BY_NC_ND_4.0

Automated summary

This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications on gut microbiota and CDI, finding that gut microbiota and CDI is likely to remain a prominent area of research in the foreseeable future. Current research hotspots include fecal microbiota transplantation, colonization resistance, and multidrug-resistant bacteria.