Bibliometric Analysis of Research on the Comorbidity of Cancer and Pain

BACKGROUND: Pain is the most common symptom in patients with neoplasm. It is a distressing experience that seriously destructs the quality-of-life of patients, with a high prevalence in clinical observations. However, only a few studies have applied bibliometric methods to analyze systematic works on the comorbidity of cancer and pain. PURPOSE: The aim of this work was to conduct a systematic analysis of the scientific studies worldwide on the comorbidity of cancer and pain in 2010–2019. METHODS: The Web of Science databases were searched for publications related to the comorbidity of cancer and pain from 2010 to 2019. RESULTS: A total of 3,423 papers met the inclusion criteria in this research. The increase in the quantity of papers presented a significant growth from 2010 to 2019 (P<0.001) by linear regression analysis. The research subject categories of the 3,423 papers mainly concentrated on oncology (28.57%), clinical neurology (25.62%), and healthcare science services (15.89%). The US had the highest number of published papers, followed by the People’s Republic of China, and England. According to scientific statistics, breast cancer (20.36%) was by far the most predominant topic in the papers related to the comorbidity of cancer and pain. CONCLUSION: This bibliometric research provided a framework for visual and quantitative research to management scholars in favor of exploring a potential field related to hot issue and research frontiers.