Trends in prenatal diagnosis: An analysis of 40 years of Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms in publications

Abstract

Objective: To understand the evolution of the field of prenatal diagnosis over the past four decades. Method: We analyzed the publications in the journal Prenatal Diagnosis from its inception in 1980 to 2019 using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to examine the major research topics and trends. The results were analyzed by 10-year intervals. Results: Publications on prenatal cytogenetics, congenital anomalies and fetal imaging predominated during the first three decades, with a steady increase in molecular genetics over time. Publications on NIPT did not appear until the most recent decade and are likely under-counted because there was no MeSH term for NIPT until 2020. Conclusion: The topics covered in Prenatal Diagnosis articles have evolved considerably over the past four decades and reflect a response to advances in technology and widespread incorporation of prenatal screening and diagnosis into standard obstetric care. The strengths of this analysis are its objective nature, its use of the standard MeSH terms used for coding, and application of a novel cluster analysis to visualize trends. The analysis also pointed out the fact that MeSH terms in this sub-specialty area are often inconsistent due to manually coding based on individual subject matter expertise.

40 years of prenatal diagnosis in 2020

“…This year marks the 40th anniversary of Prenatal Diagnosis , the official journal of the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis (ISPD). For this edition, our editor‐in‐chief Diana Bianchi has performed a fascinating analysis of the trends in publication topics over the life of the journal 1 . This comprehensive study illustrates how the scope of our field has evolved, from the early predominance of cytogenetics, congenital anomalies and fetal imaging, to the more recent advances in molecular genetics and noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT).…”

“…For this edition, our editor-in-chief Diana Bianchi has performed a fascinating analysis of the trends in publication topics over the life of the journal. 1 This comprehensive study illustrates how the scope of our field has evolved, from the early predominance of cytogenetics, congenital anomalies and fetal imaging, to the more recent advances in molecular genetics and noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT). This study, based on a decade-by-decade analysis of standardized Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms, also reveals how the pace of change in our field has exceeded the capacity of the MeSH vocabulary to keep up.…”

“…Data availability statement NA Lisa Hui 1,2 Alessandro Ghidini 3 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne,…”