Global research trends and hotspots in breast cancer related fatigue: a bibliometric investigation.

BACKGROUND

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a common and debilitating issue for patients with breast cancer, significantly impacting quality of life and treatment efficacy. Despite the proliferation of multidisciplinary research, a comprehensive quantitative synthesis is still lacking. Such a synthesis would delineate global research trends, collaborative networks, and thematic evolution in this field. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis is therefore needed to map the scientific landscape, identify knowledge gaps, and inform future research directions.

METHODS

To map the scientific landscape of cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer, this study extracted relevant publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) spanning from 2000 to 2024. The subsequent bibliometric analysis was conducted using specialized tools including VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the R package "Bibliometrix" to meticulously chart the evolving trends and collaborative networks within this field.

RESULTS

This study analyzed 4,549 documents from 56 countries, among which the United States leads in terms of scientific research output. Since 2015, the number of annual papers on CRF in breast cancer has continued to increase. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was the most productive institution, and Supportive Care in Cancer published the highest number of related articles. The Journal of Clinical Oncology received the highest citation count. Christine Miaskowski was the most prolific author, and Julienne E. Bower was the most frequently co-cited researcher. Emerging research hotspots include keywords such as "patient-reported outcome measures", "quality of life"and "cancer-related fatigue".

CONCLUSION

This study offers a foundational resource for scholars investigating the evolving landscape of breast cancer-related fatigue research, underscoring 'quality of life' and 'intervention' as critical priorities and pivotal directions for future inquiry.