Global trends in research of high-throughput sequencing technology associated with chronic wounds from 2002 to 2022: A bibliometric and visualized study

BACKGROUND: Chronic wounds are a complex medical problem. With the difficulty of skin healing, the microbial ecology of chronic wounds is an essential factor affecting wound healing. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) technology is a vital method to reveal the microbiome diversity and population structure of chronic wounds. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to delineate the scientific output characteristics, research trends, hotspots and frontiers of HTS technologies related to chronic wounds globally over the past 20 years. METHODS: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database for articles published between 2002 and 2022 and their full record information. The Bibliometrix software package was used to analyze bibliometric indicators and VOSviewer visualization analysis results. RESULTS: Ultimately, a total of 449 original articles were reviewed, and the results showed that the number of annual publications (Nps) about HTS associated with chronic wounds has steadily increased over the last 20 years. The United States and China produce the most articles and have the highest H-index, while the United States and England have the largest number of citations (Nc) in this field. The University of California, Wound Repair and Regeneration and National Institutes of Health Nih United States were the most published institutions, journals and fund resources, respectively. The global research could be divided into 3 clusters as follows: microbial infection of chronic wounds, the healing process of wounds and microscopic processes, skin repair mechanism stimulated by antimicrobial peptides and oxidative stress. In recent years, “wound healing”, “infections”, “expression”, “inflammation”, “chronic wounds”, “identification” and “bacteria” “angiogenesis”, “biofilms” and “diabetes” were the most frequently used keywords. In addition, research on “prevalence”, “gene expression”, “inflammation” and “infection” has recently become a hotspot. CONCLUSIONS: This paper compares the research hotspots and directions in this field globally from the perspectives of countries, institutions and authors, analyzes the trend of international cooperation, and reveals the future development direction of the field and research hotspots of great scientific research value. Through this paper, we can further explore the value of HTS technology in chronic wounds to better solve the problem of chronic wounds.