Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy for Chronic Pain-Related Depression or Anxiety from 2003 to 2023: A Bibliometric Analysis

Pu Yang; Tian Wang; Yu-Jun He; Sheng-Yong Su

doi:10.2147/JPR.S436434

Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy for Chronic Pain-Related Depression or Anxiety from 2003 to 2023: A Bibliometric Analysis

J Pain Res. 2023 Dec 15:16:4301-4315. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S436434. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Pu Yang¹, Tian Wang¹, Yu-Jun He², Sheng-Yong Su^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ The First School of Clinical Medicine, Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
² Faculty of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina, Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Acupuncture-Moxibustion, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Preventive Medicine of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Background: Chronic pain (CP) as a long-lasting stressor can often cause mood disorders, such as depression or anxiety. The comorbidity of CP and mood disorders poses challenges for treatment and increases healthcare costs. Acupuncture has emerged as a widely utilized approach to alleviate both CP and mood disorders. However, there is a lack of well-established bibliometric analyses in this area of research. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the current hotspots and research trends regarding the use of acupuncture for treating CP-related depression or anxiety.

Methods: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection spanning from 2003 to 2023 to identify relevant literature about the use of acupuncture for treating CP-related depression or anxiety. Bibliometric and visualization analyses were performed using CiteSpace 5.7.R5 and Vosviewer 1.6.19 software.

Results: A total of 254 articles published between 2003 and 2023 were included, revealing an upward trajectory with some fluctuations in publication numbers over the past two decades. China and the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine were the most productive country and institution in this field. Fang JQ and Vickers AJ ascended as the most prolific and influential authors, respectively. Trials was the journal with the highest number of publications, while Pain and BMJ-British Medical Journal exhibited the highest citation and centrality, respectively. "Acupuncture", "depression", and "chronic pain" were the top three keywords. The hotspots in this domain encompass types of chronic pain that predispose to negative mood, including fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and neuropathic pain. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), mechanisms, and evidence-based evaluations are the main research directions.

Conclusion: This study uses bibliometric techniques to analyze the research hotspots and forefronts of acupuncture as a therapeutic approach for CP-related depression or anxiety. Our objective is to provide researchers with valuable references and identify research focal points for future investigations.

Keywords: VOSviewer; acupuncture; anxiety; bibliometric analysis; chronic pain; citespace; depression.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81960895, and No. 82160934); and the Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education (YCBXJ2023023).