Hocaoglu Mevhibe B, Lewison Grant, Sharp Hamish, Pastrana Tania, Namisango Eve, Cleary James, Hasties Barbara, Kabisa Eric, Musau Helena, Spangenberg Kathryn, Ruiz Paola, Ali Zipporah, Mallafre-Larrosa Mertixell, Polo Alfredo, Torode Julie, Aggarwal Ajay, Sullivan Richard
Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London, London, UK.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1417-7117.
Ecancermedicalscience. 2025 Jul 10;19:1943. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2025.1943. eCollection 2025.
Palliative care research (PCR) plays a critical role in improving the quality of life for patients with serious illness, yet its global distribution and focus areas remain uneven. Understanding the trends and impact of PCR over the past decade can inform future research priorities and policy development.
We conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Web of Science related to PCR between 2013 and 2022. Articles were identified using a comprehensive filter based on title keywords and specialist journals, and were further classified by research domain, disease area and study type.
The volume of PCR publications has grown over the past decade, increasing from 0.29% of all biomedical research outputs in 2013-14 to 0.62% in 2021-22. Countries with the highest levels of PCR output-primarily European and Anglophone nations-also ranked highly on the Economist Intelligence Unit's Quality of Death Index. Using eight different bibliometric indicators, we assessed the impact of countries' PCR outputs; while rankings varied by metric, European countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Ireland consistently performed strongly. Cancer emerged as the dominant disease focus, although many studies also addressed co-morbid conditions including COVID-19 in recent years. A significant proportion of PCR also examined the impact of illness on patients' families and caregivers.
The findings highlight cancer as a major area of focus and need within PCR. However, research outputs remain disproportionately concentrated in high-income countries, revealing a persistent gap in low- and middle-income settings.
To address the growing global burden of cancer and serious illness, palliative care should be integrated as a core component of national cancer control plans. This integration must be supported by a targeted research agenda that emphasises implementation and scaling of palliative care models, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Policymakers and research funders should prioritise holistic, patient-centred approaches and ensure that impact measurement reflects meaningful outcomes for patients and families.
姑息治疗研究（PCR）在改善重症患者生活质量方面发挥着关键作用，但其全球分布和重点领域仍不均衡。了解过去十年PCR的趋势和影响可为未来的研究重点和政策制定提供参考。
我们对2013年至2022年间Web of Science中索引的与PCR相关的出版物进行了文献计量分析。通过基于标题关键词和专业期刊的综合筛选来识别文章，并进一步按研究领域、疾病领域和研究类型进行分类。
过去十年中PCR出版物的数量有所增长，从2013 - 2014年占所有生物医学研究产出的0.29%增至2021 - 2022年的0.62%。PCR产出水平最高的国家——主要是欧洲国家和英语国家——在经济学人智库的死亡质量指数上也排名靠前。我们使用八种不同的文献计量指标评估了各国PCR产出的影响力；尽管排名因指标而异，但荷兰、比利时、英国和爱尔兰等欧洲国家始终表现出色。癌症成为主要的疾病研究重点，不过近年来许多研究也涉及了包括COVID - 19在内的共病情况。相当一部分PCR研究还考察了疾病对患者家庭和照料者的影响。
研究结果凸显了癌症是PCR的一个主要重点关注领域和需求所在。然而，研究产出仍过度集中在高收入国家，这揭示了低收入和中等收入地区存在的持续差距。
为应对全球日益增长的癌症和重症负担，应将姑息治疗纳入国家癌症控制计划的核心组成部分。这种整合必须得到有针对性的研究议程的支持，该议程强调姑息治疗模式的实施和推广，特别是在低收入和中等收入国家。政策制定者和研究资助者应优先考虑以患者为中心的整体方法，并确保影响评估反映对患者及其家庭有意义的结果。
