Global trends in gut microbiota and clostridioides difficile infection research: A visualized study

BACKGROUND

Clostridioides (clostridium) difficile infection (CDI) is the most common cause of nosocomial diarrheal disease, which has become a public health problem worldwide; gut dysbiosis plays a central role in its pathophysiology. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications on gut microbiota and CDI to summarize the current status of research including research hotspots.

METHODS

Relevant publications from January 2004 to February 2022 were identified from the Web of Science Core Collection. Three bibliometric tools were used to perform visualization analyses.

RESULTS

A total of 1983 publications were analyzed. Annual publications increased from 11 in 2004-237 in 2021, with the US being the leading producer (47.55 % of all papers). EG Pamer had the highest average citations per article (average citations per item = 153.03, H-index = 29). Frontiers in Microbiology published the most papers. The main research foci were "fecal microbiota transplantation," "colonization resistance," and "multidrug-resistant bacteria." The keywords with the highest frequency in recent years include: gut dysbiosis, antibiotic resistance, bile-acids, 16 s sequencing, multidrug-resistant bacteria, and short chain fatty acids.

CONCLUSIONS

Gut microbiota and CDI is likely to remain a prominent area of research in the foreseeable future. Current research hotspots ("fecal microbiota transplantation," "colonization resistance," and "multidrug-resistant bacteria") should receive even more attention in future studies.

Protecting the Microbiota

We examine 3 different approaches to protecting the gut microbiome: highly targeted antibiotics, antibiotic destruction, and antibiotic binding. Each approach shows promise to prevent the off-target effects of antibiotics on the gut microbiome.