Global trends and knowledge-relationship of symptom clusters in cancer research: a bibliometric analysis over the past 20 years

Abstract Objective To use CiteSpace and VOSviewer to investigate the scientific production in the field of symptom clusters in cancer research. Methods The search was performed using the terms “symptom clusters,” “cancer,” and “oncology” on the Web of Science Core Collection database. The retrieval time was from 2001 to 2021, which covers the last 2 decades. Based on the production theory of scientific knowledge and the data mining of citations, data pertaining to the annual publications, journals, countries, organizations, authors, and keywords that produce symptom clusters in cancer research, as well as their cooperation (collaboration network), were extracted, and then both were clarified by the software tools VOSviewer (version 1.6.16) and CiteSpace (version 6.1.R2). Results A total of 1796 publications were retrieved between 2001 and 2021, and 473 relevant publications were included after screening. The results showed an increasing trend in published articles. The United States had the largest number of publications (261/473, 55.18%), followed by China and Canada. The University of California, San Francisco, was the most productive institution. Current research hotspots included the analysis of symptom clusters and symptom management in patients with breast cancer and lung cancer, as well as any advanced cancer and cancer cachexia; fatigue-related symptom clusters and depression-anxiety symptom cluster; and the impacts of symptom clusters on quality of life. The research frontiers included analysis between health-related quality of life and symptom clusters, data mining in symptom clusters, research on the mental health status of cancer patients, and study of the mechanism and biological pathways of symptom clusters. Conclusions The study provides insight into the global research perspective for the scientific progress on cancer symptom clusters, which suggests a growing scientific interest in this field, and more studies are warranted to guide symptom management.