A bibliometric analysis of studies on gut microbiota in attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder from 2012 to 2021

Abstract

BackgroundAn increasing number of studies have focused on the role of gut microbiota in the treatment of ADHD, but its related molecular mechanisms are not yet clear, and there is still room for development of studies targeting this area. This study analyzes publications from 2012 to 2021 in a comprehensive and multi-faceted visualization, with the aim of grasping the existing research profile and guiding scholars to make more in-depth studies.MethodsThe 1,677 articles and 298 review articles on gut microbiota in ADHD were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace, VOSviewer, Microsoft Excel 2019, Scimago Graphica, Bibliometrix and Pajek metrics software were used for visualization and analysis of the included literature.ResultsOn August 3, 2022, a total of 1975 English-language articles on gut microbiota in ADHD were retrieved from Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) from January 2012 to December 2021, with a steady upward trend in the number of articles published in this field over the decade. The top three countries in terms of the number of articles published are the United States, China, and Spain. Meanwhile, CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS CSIC, UNIV OF CALIFORNIA SYSTEM, and UDICE FRENCH RESEARCH UNIV have made significant contributions in this field. In the analysis of the published journals, PLoS One was not only the first in terms of number of articles published but also the most cited. Wang J was the most prolific author and CAPORASO JG ranked first in terms of co-cited authors. In addition, “Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome,” published by David LA et al., has the highest citation frequency in this field. The most frequently occurring keyword was “gut microbiota.”ConclusionThe results of this paper clarify the current status of research on gut microbiota in ADHD. Based on the research on the mechanism of gut microbiota in other diseases, there is reason to believe that the exploration of gut microbiota in ADHD must be increasingly mature. And the study speculates that future research may focus on “nutrition supplements,” “lipid metabolism,” and “gut brain axis.” It is imperative to promote a closer international cooperation among scholars in this field.

Gut microbiota and autism spectrum disorders: where do we stand?

“…Keywords were selected according to the search within Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in PubMed or from previous bibliometric studies [ 57 – 62 ] or meta-analysis and systematic studies [ 3 , 63 – 67 ]. The results were filtered by limiting documents to journal research, while proceedings, conferences, books, and book chapters were excluded.…”

Unveiling the hidden world of gut health: Exploring cutting-edge research through visualizing randomized controlled trials on the gut microbiota

“…The interpretation of research and scientific discoveries related to RCTs involving gut microbiota is not fully studied. However, ongoing research in this area will probably persist, as suggested by studies that are akin to those centered on microbiota[ 20 - 22 ], including investigations into the role of the gut microbiota in schizophrenia[ 23 ], nutrition[ 24 ], bone metabolism[ 25 ], cardiovascular diseases[ 26 - 28 ], atherosclerosis[ 29 ], diabetes (both type 1 and type 2)[ 30 , 31 ], irritable bowel syndrome[ 32 , 33 ], depression[ 34 ], autoimmune diseases[ 35 ], rheumatoid arthritis[ 36 ], attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder[ 37 ], cancer[ 38 - 42 ], the microbiome-gut-brain axis[ 38 - 42 ], and fecal microbiota transplantation[ 43 - 47 ].…”