Hotspots and development trends of gut microbiota in atopic dermatitis: A bibliometric analysis from 1988 to 2024.

BACKGROUND

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a prevalent inflammatory skin condition that commonly occurs in children. More and more scientific evidence suggests that gut microbiota plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AD, whereas there is no article providing a comprehensive summary and analysis. We aimed to analyze documents on AD and gut microbiota and identify hotspots and development trends in this field.

METHODS

Articles and reviews in the field of AD and gut microbiota from January 1, 1988 to October 20, 2024 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Biblioshiny was utilized for evaluating and visualizing the core authors, journals, countries, documents, trend topics, and hotspots in this field.

RESULTS

Among 1672 documents, it indicated that the number of annual publications generally increased. The United States had the highest production, impact, and international collaboration. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology was the journal of the maximum publications. Based on keyword co-occurrence and clustering analysis, "stratum-corneum lipids," "probiotics," "prebiotics," "fecal microbiota transplantation," "phage therapy," "short chain fatty-acids," "biologic therapy," and "skin inflammation" represented current trend topics. The pathological and molecular mechanisms and associated therapeutic methods for AD and gut microbiota were the research hotspots. The incorporation of microbiota-based therapies alongside conventional treatments can contribute to better clinical outcomes.

CONCLUSION

We highlighted that gut microbiota may exacerbate symptoms of AD through various aspects, including immunity, metabolites, and neuroendocrine pathways. More efforts are required to investigate the safety and efficacy of gut microbial management methods for the prevention and treatment of AD.