Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China
  • 2 Department of Health Policy, Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100020, China
  • 3 Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Hunan Cancer Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China
Chin Med J (Engl), 2018 Aug 20;131(16):1975-1982.
PMID: 30082530 DOI: 10.4103/0366-6999.238140

Abstract

Background: Betel quid chewing has been a major risk factor for oral cancer (OC) in southern China. This study aimed to analyze the scientific publications on the relationship between betel quid chewing and OC and construct a model to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate pertinent publications from 1998 to 2017.

Methods: The publications from 1998 to 2017 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Microsoft Excel, Thomson Data Analyzer, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace software were used to analyze the publication outcomes, journals, countries/regions, institutions, authors, research areas, and research frontiers.

Results: A total of 788 publications on the relationship between betel quid chewing and OC published until October 25, 2017, were identified. The top 4 related journals were Journal of Oral Pathology Medicine, Oral Oncology, Plos One, and International Journal of Cancer. The top five countries engaged in related research included China, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia. The corresponding disciplines, such as oncology, oral surgery, pathology, environmental and occupational health, and toxicology, were mainly concentrated in three disciplines. The subject terms squamous cell carcinoma, OC, betel quid, expression, oral submucous fibrosis, India, and p53 ranked first among research hotspots. The burst terms squamous cell carcinoma, OC, betel quid, and expression ranked first in research frontiers.

Conclusions: Research in this area emphasized hotspots such as squamous cell carcinoma, OC, oral submucosal fibrosis, betel quid, and tobacco. The annual number of publications steadily decreased from 1998 to 2017, with a lack of a systematic study from interdisciplinary perspectives, inadequate pertinent journals, limited regions with the practice of betel quid chewing, and insufficient participation of researchers, which indicate that as the prevalence of OC increases, particularly in China, research in this area warrants further expansion.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.