Association between electroconvulsive therapy and depressive disorder from 2012 to 2021: Bibliometric analysis and global trends

Abstract

BackgroundDepressive disorder is a chronic mental illness that is vulnerable to relapse, imposes a huge economic burden on society and patients, and is a major global public health problem. Depressive disorders are characterized by depressed mood, decreased energy and interest, and suicidal ideation and behavior in severe cases. They can be treated through pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy or physical treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In patients with suicidal ideation, behavior, or refractory depressive disorder ECT has a faster onset of action and better efficacy than pharmacotherapy. This study used bibliometric and visual analyses to map the current state of global research on ECT for depressive disorder and to predict future research trends in this area.Materials and methodsA literature search was performed for studies on ECT and depressive disorder in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. All studies considered for this paper were published between 2012 and 2021. Bibliometric and co-occurrence analyses were performed using the CiteSpace software.ResultsIn total, 2,184 publications were retrieved. The number of publications on ECT and depressive disorder have been increasing since 2012, with China being a emerging hub with a growing influence in the field. Zafiris J. Daskalakis is the top author in terms of number of publications, and The Journal of ECT is not only the most published journal but also the most co-cited journal in the field. Co-occurrence analysis showed that electroconvulsive therapy, treatment-resistant depression, bipolar disorder, hippocampus, efficacy, and electrode placement are current research hotspots. Molecular biomarkers, neuroimaging predictors, and late-life depression will become research hotspots in the future.ConclusionOur analysis made it possible to observe an important growth of the field since 2012, to identify key scientific actors in this growth and to predict hot topics for future research.

Bibliometric and visual analysis of the literature on electroconvulsive therapy in psychiatry between 2000-2023

“…The University of Toronto, Duke University, and the University of California are the three institutions with the most publications in the field over the past ten years, each with 104. The current study' findings were similar to Cai et al [11] study according to most productive institutions, but the Mayo Clinic (the United States) (n=78), KU Leuven (Belgium) (n=66), Harvard University (the United States) (n=58) were the three institutions with the most publications in the field of ECT. This difference may be due to the fact that the study of Cai et al [11] was on ECT and depression.…”

“…The degree of relatedness between unrelated authors is influenced by how often they cite a particular article; the more citations, the more related the authors are. [31] In a similar study, Cai et al [11] examined the relationship between ECT and depressive disorder from 2012 to 2021 with the bibliometric method. 2,184 publications were included in Cai et al [11] study.…”

“…[31] In a similar study, Cai et al [11] examined the relationship between ECT and depressive disorder from 2012 to 2021 with the bibliometric method. 2,184 publications were included in Cai et al [11] study. According to this study, there have been more publications on ECT and depressive disorder since 2012.…”

“…[10] Today, bibliometric analyses have been conducted in many fields, including psychiatry. [11][12][13][14] However, there is no bibliometric study aiming to analyze the literature on general use practices as a whole system of ECT in psychiatry. This research aimed to point out ECT usage in psychiatry over the previous 23 years using bibliometrics.…”

A 30-year bibliometric assessment and visualisation of emotion regulation research: applying network analysis and cluster analysis

“…The study found rapid growth in publications after 2010; however, a lack of international scientific collaboration was also observed. Furthermore, a co-occurrence analysis was conducted by Cai et al (2022) regarding the connection between electroconvulsive therapy and depressive disorder research from 2012 to 2021. The study found that electroconvulsive therapy, treatment-resistant depression, bipolar disorder, hippocampus, efficacy and electrode location are key research hotspots.…”