Araslanova R, Paradis J, Rotenberg B W
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
World J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2017 Jun 9;3(2):72-78. doi: 10.1016/j.wjorl.2017.05.012. eCollection 2017 Jun.
Published research in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) appears limited despite OSA being a highly prevalent adult and pediatric disease leading to many adverse outcomes if left untreated. We aimed to quantify the deficit in OSA scientific literature in order to provide a novel way of identifying gaps in knowledge and a need for further research inquiry.
This was a Bibliometric analysis study. Using Ovid Medline database we analyzed and compared research output (medical and surgical) between adult OSA and similarly prevalent chronic conditions (Type II diabetes (T2DM), coronary artery disease (CAD) and osteoarthritis (OA)) from December 2016 up to fifty years prior. Linear graphs were utilized to trend collected data. Utilizing same strategy, we compared publication trends for pediatric OSA to asthma and gastroesophageal reflux (GER).
Adult OSA publications ( = 9314) were significantly underrepresented when compared to T2DM ( = 66,023), CAD ( = 31,526) and OA ( = 34,123). Linear plots demonstrated that despite increasing number of publications this disparity persisted annually. Surgical literature composed 10.4% ( = 972) of adult OSA publications and reached a plateau in the last ten years. Pediatric OSA ( = 2994) had less research output when compared to asthma ( = 47,442) and GER ( = 6705). However, over past five years pediatric OSA surpassed GER in annual number of publications. Surgical literature represented 23.1% ( = 693) of pediatric OSA publications and continued increasing over past ten years. Study methodologies for both adult and pediatric OSA showed a lack of randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses in comparison to other diseases.
Our review shows substantial deficit in total, annual and surgical adult OSA published research compared to similarly prevalent diseases. This trend is not entirely observed in pediatric OSA literature.
尽管阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）是一种在成人和儿童中高度流行的疾病，若不治疗会导致许多不良后果，但已发表的关于OSA的研究似乎有限。我们旨在量化OSA科学文献中的不足，以便提供一种识别知识空白和进一步研究需求的新方法。
这是一项文献计量分析研究。我们使用Ovid Medline数据库，分析并比较了2016年12月至此前五十年间成人OSA与同样流行的慢性疾病（2型糖尿病（T2DM）、冠状动脉疾病（CAD）和骨关节炎（OA））之间的研究产出（医学和外科方面）。利用线性图对收集的数据进行趋势分析。采用相同策略，我们比较了儿童OSA与哮喘和胃食管反流（GER）的发表趋势。
与T2DM（n = 66,023）、CAD（n = 31,526）和OA（n = 34,123）相比，成人OSA的出版物数量（n = 9314）明显较少。线性图显示，尽管出版物数量不断增加，但这种差距每年都持续存在。外科文献占成人OSA出版物的10.4%（n = 972），并在过去十年中达到平稳状态。与哮喘（n = 47,442）和GER（n = 6705）相比，儿童OSA的研究产出较少。然而，在过去五年中，儿童OSA的年出版物数量超过了GER。外科文献占儿童OSA出版物的23.1%（n = 693），并在过去十年中持续增加。与其他疾病相比，成人和儿童OSA的研究方法都缺乏随机对照试验和荟萃分析。
我们的综述表明，与同样流行的疾病相比，成人OSA的总体、年度和外科已发表研究存在显著不足。这种趋势在儿童OSA文献中并未完全体现。
