Research Trends of Traditional Chinese Medicine Therapies on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Bibliometric Analysis


Author: Chunyan Yang1, Qiying He2, Liuyang Huang3, Hao Tian3, Qin Luo3, Guixing Xu3, Mingsheng Sun3, Sha Yang3, Fanrong Liang3, Pan Litao4

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Department of Acupuncture and Massage, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China, yangchunyan84102@163.com.

<sup>2</sup> Department of Respiratory Medicine, Mianyang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Mianyang, China.

<sup>3</sup> Acupuncture and Tuina School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.

<sup>4</sup> Department of Acupuncture and Massage, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
Conference/Journal: Complement Med Res
Date published: 2025 Jan 27
Other:
  Pages: 1   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1159/000541020.   ,  Word Count: 282  
    Background:

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapies have shown great improvement in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, yet no bibliometric analysis on TCM therapies for COPD exists.



Summary:

A comprehensive literature search was conducted on TCM therapies for COPD within the past decade, utilizing the Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. To analyze collaborative patterns among countries/regions, institutions, and authors, as well as identify influential references and emerging research trends, CiteSpace and VOSviewer software were employed. The dataset comprised 625 articles from WOS and 5,641 from CNKI, revealing a consistent growth in COPD-related TCM research over the past 10 years. China emerged as the leading contributor, with a predominant focus on TCM Universities. The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine was the most cited journal, while Medicine published the highest number of articles. Li, JS was the most prolific author, and Barnes, PJ was the most frequently cited researcher. Key studies by Leung RWM: Eur Respir J. 2013;41(5):1051-7, Li SY: BMC Complement Altern Med. 2012;12:197, and Polkey MI: Chest. 2018;153(5):1116-24 garnered significant attention. Keyword analysis highlighted the prominence of Tai Chi, Chinese herbal medicine, acupoint sticking, acupuncture, lung function, quality of life, and inflammation as core research themes.



Key messages:

Research on TCM therapies for COPD has gained growing attention over the past decade. Among the most commonly studied TCM interventions are Tai Chi, Chinese herbal medicine, acupoint sticking, and acupuncture. Lung function, quality of life, and inflammation have emerged as key areas of investigation and are likely to remain focal points for future research endeavors.



Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Bibliometrische Analyse; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Chronisch-obstruktive Lungenerkrankung; CiteSpace; TCM-Therapien; Traditional Chinese Medicine therapies; VOSviewer.



PMID: 39870053 DOI: 10.1159/000541020