Primary Brain Tumor Research Productivity in Southeast Asia and Its Association With Socioeconomic Determinants and Burden of Disease

Abstract

BackgroundThere is an unmet need to assess research productivity from southeast Asia (SEA) regarding primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors. The country’s economy, landscape of neurology practice, and disease burden are hypothesized to correlate with scientific output. This study aimed to objectively measure the impact of published studies on primary brain tumors in SEA and to assess for correlation with socioeconomic determinants and burden of disease.MethodsWe systematically searched electronic databases for relevant articles from SEA on primary CNS tumor until July 31, 2020. Bibliometric indices were reported and subjected to correlational analysis with population size, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, percentage (%) GDP for research and development (R&D), total number of neurologists, disease incidence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life years.ResultsA total of 549 articles were included, consisting primarily of case reports (n=187, 34.06%) and discussed gliomas (n=195, 35.52%). Singapore published the most number of the articles (n=246, 44.8%). Statistical analysis showed a positive correlation between %GDP for R&D and total publication. Additionally, negative relationships were noted between burden of disease and total neurologist with most bibliometric indices. However, GDP per capita was not correlated with measures for research productivity.ConclusionThe low impact of scientific output on primary CNS tumors in SEA does not address the growing epidemiology and burden of this disease. An increase in the GDP growth and financial and manpower investment to R&D may significantly improve research productivity in SEA.

Associations of motor neuron disease research productivity and socioeconomic factors in Southeast Asia: a bibliometric analysis

“…The correlation between economic variables and scientific productivity has also been demonstrated in research on other disease conditions: GDP and respiratory disease research output 31 ; GDP and gastric cancer research productivity 32 ; GDP and public health research output 33 ; GDP and transplant research 34 ; and GDP and scientific output on cerebrovascular rehabilitation 35 . In SEA, this trend was consistently manifested in other bibliometric studies comparing research productivity relating to other neurological diseases and economic indices: multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder 36 , dementia 37 , cerebrovascular diseases 38 , movement disorders 39 , bacterial central nervous system infection 40 and primary brain tumors 41 . The nature of causality in this correlation, however, should be carefully considered.…”

Brain Tumor Infodemiology: Worldwide Online Health-Seeking Behavior Using Google Trends and Wikipedia Pageviews

“…Access to internet and cultural online habits could be reasons for higher search volume coming from these areas. Research outputs for brain tumors can be explored as possible sources of online search volumes for countries that dedicate more of their gross domestic product (GDP) to research and development like Singapore ( 34 ).…”

A 10-Year Scientometrics Analysis of Brain Tumors Treated with Gamma Knife Radiosurgery: Visualization, Characteristics, and Scientific Trends

“…This study allowed us to perform a quantitative analysis of the activity in research, getting to know the number of scientific publications and number of citations presented, among other variables, about gamma knife radiosurgery and thus evaluate the scientific performance in this area. Although it was not a large number of articles analyzed, since it is a topic in which studies are just being conducted, these were sufficient to denote marked characteristics of the analysis; for example, the maximum peak of publications was in 2018 with 31 publications and the minimum peak was 2015 with 18 publications, and this increase as the years passed may be due to the great impact that gamma knife surgery began to take in the medical field during that year and the large increase in medical centers specialized in this branch of neurosurgery and research, thus expanding knowledge on the subject [ 14 ]. Other studies [ 13 ] showed variability in the number of publications per year, with a not so significant difference [ 15 ].…”

“…The increase in publications contributed to the growth of scientific literature about gamma knife radiosurgery, but further research on the topic is still needed. The number of collected articles is also lower compared to other bibliometric studies, because in this one, the search strategy was based on the association of gamma knife radiosurgery with brain tumors, and others are only based specifically on brain tumors, where a larger database is found [ 13 , 14 ]. Some had as inclusion criteria articles with a longer publication period [ 12 , 16 ], for example, with a publication date from 1899 to 2013 [ 17 ], and included animal studies.…”