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REVIEW article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Anxiety and Stress Disorders
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1517508
This article is part of the Research Topic Molecular Mechanisms in Psychiatry 2023: Anxiety and Stress View all 5 articles

Anxiety disorders and the gut microbiota: A bibliometric and visual analysis

Provisionally accepted
Linli Guo Linli Guo 1,2Qin Ding Qin Ding 2,3*Qing Li Qing Li 4*Danping Zheng Danping Zheng 2,5*Linglin Guo Linglin Guo 2,3*Xiaotao Cao Xiaotao Cao 1,2*Qianqian Mou Qianqian Mou 1,2*
  • 1 Clinical Trial Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University., Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 2 School of Nursing, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 3 Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 4 West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 5 Department of Neurosurgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction. Anxiety disorder is a common mental illness, yet its specific mechanisms remain unclear. Recent research has revealed a connection between gut microbiota and anxiety disorders. This study aims to assess the current global research landscape, highlight current topics of interest, and explore future research directions in the field of anxiety disorders and gut microbiota. Methods. We extracted research review articles related to anxiety and gut microbiota from the Web of Science, covering the period from 2004 to 2023. We used VOSviewer 1.6.18.0, Scimago Graphica, and CiteSpace 6.2. R2 to visualize the contributions of countries, institutions, journals, authors, citations, and keywords in this field. Result. A total of 1198 articles were included in this bibliometric analysis. Over the past two decades, both publications and citations have shown a steady increase. China, the United States, and Canada were the top three countries in terms of publication output. John Cryan from University College Cork had the highest number of publications and citation impact in this area of research. The journal Nutrients had the highest number of publications, while Brain Behavior and Immunity had the most citations. Key research themes in recent years have included anxiety, gut microbiota, depression, stress, gut-brain axis, and probiotics, all of which are likely to be important future research directions. Conclusion. This analysis has key research areas and emerging trends, including risk factors, stressors, inflammatory responses, the gut-brain axis, and probiotics. These insights can guide researchers towards a more comprehensive understanding of recent advancements in this field, help shape future research directions and facilitate the identification of new therapeutic targets for anxiety disorder, ultimately improving clinical outcomes.

    Keywords: Anxiety disorder, Gut microbe, gut-brain axis, Bibliometrics, Immunity

    Received: 26 Oct 2024; Accepted: 26 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guo, Ding, Li, Zheng, Guo, Cao and Mou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Qin Ding, Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Qing Li, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Danping Zheng, Department of Neurosurgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Linglin Guo, Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Xiaotao Cao, Clinical Trial Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University., Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Qianqian Mou, Clinical Trial Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University., Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.