Bibliometric Analysis of Hidradenitis Suppurativa Publication Trends from Asia and Australasia

Abstract

Introduction: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), once an orphan disease, has gained increased interest world-wide. The most highly cited works in HS are from North America and Europe despite known phenotypic and epidemiological differences globally. Herein, we perform a bibliometric analysis to characterize HS publication trends in Asia and Australasia (AA) over the last decade. Methods: PubMed database was searched to identify HS-related articles and were analyzed for senior authorship, country of origin, article topic, and study design. Results: The search criteria yielded 163 articles from AA. Rapid increase in publications started in 2015 with 75% (123/163) of total articles published in the last half of the decade. Case reports/series were consistently the most published study type yearly and overall (49%, 80/163). Efforts were made to increase high level of evidence publications with both randomized controlled trials from Japan and Turkey including all Asian patients. China, Japan, and India were the leading publishing countries with Australia, Israel, and Turkey increasingly contributing in the last half of the decade. Conclusions: Advancements in HS research are encouraging with increases in publication numbers and diversity; however, more geographical diversity is needed in order to garner a better understanding of the disease and treatment options.