Evolving landscape of research on cancer-related cognitive impairment: A bibliometric analysis

Objective: This study describes the state of the art in the field of cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) to facilitate research opportunities in future CRCI research.Methods: Five databases were searched: PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), and PsycINFO, from inception to August 20, 2022. Python, VOSviewer, and Cite-Space software were used for data preprocessing and analysis.Results: The published articles were predominantly from the United States, followed by China and Canada. Breast cancer and brain tumors were the dominant cancer types. The study population consisted mainly of adult cancer survivors. Prospective and multicenter studies were the most frequently used study designs. Keyword co-occurrence and mutation analysis indicated major themes: drug therapy was the most common treatment clus-ter, and adverse effects were another major cluster. The etiology of CRCI was a research hotspot and included the exploration of chemotherapy-associated and psychosocial factors by using measurement tools, such as neuro-psychological tests and treatment outcomes. Conclusions: This study's findings highlight CRCI as a major research area, on the basis of the significantly increasing number of annual publications. Keyword co-occurrence analysis provided a quantitative visualization of the current research status for CRCI, but this method cannot provide in-depth qualitative insights explaining the potential emerging trends in this field.

Automated summary

This study provides an overview of the current state of research on cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) and identifies research opportunities for future studies. The study analyzed published articles from different databases and found that the United States, China, and Canada were the top contributors. The study also identified breast cancer and brain tumors as the dominant cancer types and highlighted the importance of treatment and adverse effects in CRCI research.