<p>The Trend of Labor Analgesia in the World and China: A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications in Recent 30 Years</p>

Abstract

Labor analgesia is part of the most important tasks an anesthesiologist needs to deal with. With the "two-child policy" in China, the number of parturients has increased significantly, labor analgesia more should be valued. There has been a tremendous change on labor analgesia research in China and around the world; however, broader trends in the prevalence and scope of labor analgesia research remain underexplored. The current study quantitatively analyzes trends in labor analgesia research publications in the past 30 years. Methods: A bibliometric approach was used to search Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure for all labor analgesia-related research articles. The research progress and growing trend were quantitatively analyzed by total publications, research types, research institutions, journal impact factors, and author's contribution. Total citations frequency, average citations per item and h-index were used for evaluating literature quantity. Results: From 1988 to 2018, over 8000 documents in labor analgesia research field were published worldwide. According to Scopus, 68.2% papers of all documents were articles. The USA published the largest number of articles (2204, 27.45%). China had published 175 articles (2.18%), ranking the 11th. According to WOS, there were 221 research categories for labor analgesia articles all over the world. The total citations were 76,207, average 9.086 citations per item, and the h-index was 114, average 14 citations per item worldwide. The total citations and h-index of papers published in China were as follows: 353 total citations, 7.06 citations per item, and 10 h-index. High contribution journals, authors, institutions and the top 10 most cited articles on labor analgesia in the world and China were also listed. Conclusion: Labor analgesia research has grown markedly during the 1988-2018 period. Although China had made remarkable achievements, there was a gap in the high-quality studies between China and other leading countries.

Intrapartum Cesarean Section and Perinatal Outcomes after Epidural Analgesia or Remifentanil-PCA in Breech and Twin Deliveries

“…For example, in the Cochrane analysis of epidural versus alternative modalities of labor analgesia [ 7 ], while EA was associated with an overall increase in assisted vaginal delivery, a post hoc subgroup analysis revealed that this effect was absent in studies published after 2005, suggesting that more recent approaches to labor EA do not affect this outcome. A recent bibliometric analysis reported a marked increase in labor analgesia research between 1988–2018 [ 63 ]. However, as apparent in the preceding discussions, the available data on analgesic modalities or breech and twin deliveries are predominantly old retrospective studies and case reports.…”

Thirty-year survey of bibliometrics used in the research literature of pain: Analysis, evolution, and pitfalls

“…We note that in most of the studies (50 of 143), pain is considered without any restriction on the origin or the nature of pain (33,35,73,85). The B/P papers that focus on specific types of pain are distributed as followed: studies on low back pain/back pain (n = 15), headache/migraine (n = 14), chronic pain (n = 12), fibromyalgia or neuropathic pain, each with 10 papers, cancer pain (n = 9), postoperative pain (n = 8), and a few on other specific types of pain such as trigeminal neuralgia (153), labor pain (90), postoperative pain (98), or psychological pain (94).…”

Serum Magnesium Level as a Biomarker to Predict the Risk of Labor Epidural Anesthesia Associated Fever

“…With the advancement of society and the development of anesthesia technology, labor epidural analgesia has been recognized and accepted by more pregnant women. 1 In the United States, it is reported that labor epidural analgesia was used by more than 70% of women undergoing childbirth. 2 A 25% in The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) and 68% in Spanish delivery with epidural analgesia as an available intervention to relieve pain in labor.…”