Wu Xuesen, Deng Haiyin, Jian Shiyun, Chen Huian, Li Qing, Gong Ruiyu, Wu Jingsong
College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Innovation and Transformation Center, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 May 15;14:1126404. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1126404. eCollection 2023.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that has become a major cause of disability in children. Digital therapeutics (DTx) delivers evidence-based therapeutic interventions to patients that are driven by software to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease. This study objectively analyzed the current research status of global DTx in ASD from 2002 to 2022, aiming to explore the current global research status and trends in the field.
The Web of Science database was searched for articles about DTx in ASD from January 2002 to October 2022. CiteSpace was used to analyze the co-occurrence of keywords in literature, partnerships between authors, institutions, and countries, the sudden occurrence of keywords, clustering of keywords over time, and analysis of references, cited authors, and cited journals.
A total of 509 articles were included. The most productive country and institution were the United States and Vanderbilt University. The largest contributing authors were Warren, Zachary, and Sarkar, Nilanjan. The most-cited journal was the . The most-cited and co-cited articles were Brian Scarselati (Robots for Use in Autism Research, 2012) and Ralph Adolphs (Abnormal processing of social information from faces in autism, 2001). "Artificial Intelligence," "machine learning," "Virtual Reality," and "eye tracking" were common new and cutting-edge trends in research on DTx in ASD.
The use of DTx in ASD is developing rapidly and gaining the attention of researchers worldwide. The publications in this field have increased year by year, mainly concentrated in the developed countries, especially in the United States. Both Vanderbilt University and Yale University are very important institutions in the field. The researcher from Vanderbilt University, Warren and Zachary, his dynamics or achievements in the field is also more worth our attention. The application of new technologies such as virtual reality, machine learning, and eye-tracking in this field has driven the development of DTx on ASD and is currently a popular research topic. More cross-regional and cross-disciplinary collaborations are recommended to advance the development and availability of DTx.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种严重的神经发育障碍，已成为儿童残疾的主要原因。数字疗法（DTx）通过软件为患者提供循证治疗干预措施，以预防、管理或治疗医学病症或疾病。本研究客观分析了2002年至2022年全球DTx在ASD领域的研究现状，旨在探索该领域当前的全球研究状况和趋势。
检索Web of Science数据库中2002年1月至2022年10月关于DTx在ASD中的文章。使用CiteSpace分析文献中关键词的共现情况、作者、机构和国家之间的合作关系、关键词的突现情况、关键词随时间的聚类情况以及参考文献、被引作者和被引期刊的分析。
共纳入509篇文章。发文量最多的国家和机构分别是美国和范德堡大学。贡献最大的作者是沃伦、扎卡里和萨卡尔·尼兰詹。被引次数最多的期刊是《 》。被引次数最多且共同被引的文章分别是布莱恩·斯卡尔塞拉蒂（《用于自闭症研究的机器人》，2012年）和拉尔夫·阿道夫斯（《自闭症患者对面部社会信息的异常处理》，2001年）。“人工智能”“机器学习”“虚拟现实”和“眼动追踪”是DTx在ASD研究中常见的新的前沿趋势。
DTx在ASD中的应用发展迅速，受到全球研究人员的关注。该领域的出版物逐年增加，主要集中在发达国家，尤其是美国。范德堡大学和耶鲁大学都是该领域非常重要的机构。范德堡大学的研究人员沃伦和扎卡里在该领域的动态或成就也更值得我们关注。虚拟现实、机器学习和眼动追踪等新技术在该领域的应用推动了DTx在ASD方面的发展，目前是一个热门的研究课题。建议开展更多跨地区、跨学科的合作，以推进DTx的开发和应用。
