Gong Xiaowei, Bai Siyu, Lei Enze, Lu Tao, Chen Yao, Cai Jianxin, Liu Jianzhong
College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, China.
Department of Pediatrics, Wuhan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, China.
Front Pediatr. 2025 Apr 28;13:1468788. doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1468788. eCollection 2025.
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), once known as Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, impacts between 3% and 10% of children and adolescents globally, as well as nearly one-third of obsessed boys and one-quarter of obsessed girls, and is the most frequent cause of pediatric liver disease associated with the obesity epidemic. With the growing attention and increasing volume of literature on pediatric MASLD, there is an urgent need for bibliometric analysis and visualization in the area of pediatric MASLD study in terms of dissecting study priorities.
Literature was searched in the Web of Science Core Collection database, followed by categorization, bibliometric study as well as visual analysis conducted by applying software including Citespace, VOSviewer, and the R language. The study concentrated on analyzing information related to key authors, spatial and temporal distribution, core keywords, and important citations.
In total, 3,409 publications on pediatric MASLD were collected in the study, including 2,697 articles and 712 review articles. Between 2004 and 2024, the volume of publications had been constantly increasing per year. The country with the most numerous publications was the United States, which had extensive exchanges and collaborations with Italy, China, and England, followed by Italy. The had the greatest quantity of publications in this domain. The core literature was a clinical guideline. Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, steatohepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, cardiovascular risk, diabetes risk, diagnostic accuracy, lifestyle intervention, gut microbiome, probiotics, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease were also hot topics and frontier trends in pediatric MASLD studies.
This research represents the inaugural application of bibliometric analysis to examine the developmental trajectory of pediatric MASLD studies over the past two decades, which reveals that the etiology, pathological changes of the liver, relationship with obesity, complications, comorbidities, diagnosis and treatments of pediatric MASLD are the key focuses and provides academic references for pediatric clinicians and scholars to grasp the hotspots, the cutting edge and the evolving trends in the area.
代谢功能障碍相关脂肪性肝病（MASLD），曾被称为非酒精性脂肪性肝病，全球3%至10%的儿童和青少年受其影响，肥胖男孩中近三分之一、肥胖女孩中四分之一受影响，且是肥胖流行相关儿科肝病最常见的病因。随着对儿科MASLD的关注度不断提高以及该领域文献数量的增加，迫切需要对儿科MASLD研究领域进行文献计量分析和可视化，以剖析研究重点。
在科学网核心合集数据库中检索文献，随后进行分类、文献计量研究以及运用Citespace、VOSviewer和R语言等软件进行可视化分析。该研究集中分析与关键作者、时空分布、核心关键词和重要引文相关的信息。
该研究共收集到3409篇关于儿科MASLD的出版物，包括2697篇文章和712篇综述文章。2004年至2024年期间，出版物数量逐年持续增加。发表文章数量最多的国家是美国，其与意大利、中国和英国有广泛的交流与合作，其次是意大利。该领域发表文章数量最多的是 。核心文献是一份临床指南。胰岛素抵抗、代谢综合征、脂肪性肝炎、肝细胞癌、心血管风险、糖尿病风险、诊断准确性、生活方式干预、肠道微生物群、益生菌以及代谢功能障碍相关脂肪性肝病也是儿科MASLD研究的热点话题和前沿趋势。
本研究首次应用文献计量分析来审视过去二十年儿科MASLD研究的发展轨迹，揭示了儿科MASLD的病因、肝脏病理变化、与肥胖的关系、并发症、合并症、诊断和治疗是关键重点，为儿科临床医生和学者把握该领域的热点、前沿和发展趋势提供了学术参考。
