Systematic Reviews
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World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2014; 20(44): 16745-16749
Published online Nov 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i44.16745
Temporal trends in inflammatory bowel disease publications over a 19-years period
Yael Weintraub, Francis B Mimouni, Shlomi Cohen
Yael Weintraub, Shlomi Cohen, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Unit, “Dana-Dwek” Children’s Hospital, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel
Yael Weintraub, Shlomi Cohen, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel
Francis B Mimouni, Department of Pediatrics, “Dana-Dwek” Children’s Hospital, Tel Aviv Medical Center and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel
Francis B Mimouni, Division of Neonatology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem 93722, Israel
Author contributions: Mimouni FB and Cohen S designed the research; Weintraub Y collected the data; Mimouni FB and Cohen S analyzed the data; and Mimouni FB, Cohen S and Weintraub Y wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Shlomi Cohen, MD, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Unit, “Dana-Dwek” Children’s Hospital, Tel Aviv Medical Center, 6 Weizman Street, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel. shlomico@tlvmc.gov.il
Telephone: +972-3-6974519 Fax: +972-3-6974181
Received: April 1, 2014
Revised: April 29, 2014
Accepted: July 24, 2014
Published online: November 28, 2014
Processing time: 244 Days and 17.9 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To determine whether temporal changes occurred in the pediatric vs adult inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), both in terms of number and type of yearly published articles.

METHODS: We aimed to evaluate all PubMed-registered articles related to the field of IBD from January 1, 1993 and until December 31, 2011. We searched for articles using the key words “inflammatory bowel disease” or “Crohn’s disease” or “ulcerative colitis” or “undetermined colitis”, using the age filters of “child” or “adult”. We repeated the search according to the total number per year of articles per type of article, for each year of the specified period. We studied randomized controlled trials, clinical trials, case reports, meta-analyses, letters to the editor, reviews, systematic reviews, practice guidelines, and editorials.

RESULTS: We identified 44645 articles over the 19 year-period. There were 8687 pediatric-tagged articles vs 19750 adult-tagged articles. Thus 16208 articles were unaccounted and not assigned a “pediatric” or “adult” tag by PubMed. There was an approximately 3-fold significant increase in all articles recorded both in pediatric and adult articles. This significant increase was true for nearly every category of article but the number of clinical trials, meta-analysis, and randomized controlled trials increased proportionally more than the number of “lower quality” articles such as editorials or letters to the editor. Very few guidelines were published every year.

CONCLUSION: There is a yearly linear increase in publications related to IBD. Relatively, there are more and more clinical trials and higher quality articles.

Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease; Crohn’s disease; Ulcerative colitis; Randomized clinical trial; Meta-analysis

Core tip: Since the first description of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the 1700’s, thousand of articles have been published on the topic. This study aimed to determine whether temporal changes occurred in IBD literature. We identified 44645 articles over the 19 year-period starting in 1993. There was an approximately 3-fold increase in all pediatric and adults articles recorded. This significant increase was true for nearly every category of articles but clinical trials, meta-analysis, and randomized controlled trials increased proportionally more than the number of “lower quality” articles such as editorials or letters to the editor. Very few guidelines were published every year.