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Review
. 2019 Jun;9(1):010425.
doi: 10.7189/jogh.09.010425.

A landscape review of the published research output relating to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in North & Central America and Europe between 2011-2015

Amir Kirolos  1 , Alex Christides  1 , Shiau Xian  1 , Rachel Reeves  2   1 , Harish Nair  2   1 , Harry Campbell  2   1
Affiliations
Review

A landscape review of the published research output relating to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in North & Central America and Europe between 2011-2015

Amir Kirolos et al. J Glob Health. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The high disease burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection and renewed focus on developing a vaccine has led to sustained interest in published RSV-related research. The majority of this research comes from Europe and North/Central America and this landscape review aimed to identify and characterize RSV-related research published during 2011-2015 in these geographical areas.

Methods: We conducted a literature review on electronic databases Scopus and Web of Science to identify published studies investigating RSV throughout Europe and North/Central America. We stratified RSV-related publications between 2011-2015 by study type, country, research institution and funding body.

Results: The annual published output of RSV-related research has increased by 29% over the period 2011-2015. Eighty seven percent (13/15) of the most highly cited papers on RSV during this period were from North America. US universities with the highest number of RSV-related publications included Emory (n = 23), Vanderbilt (n = 23), University of Michigan (n = 21) and Ohio State (n = 20). The UK (n = 125), Netherlands (n = 97) and Spain (n = 76) were major European contributors to RSV-related publications. University Medical Centre Utrecht (n = 40) and Imperial College London (n = 28) were the European universities with the largest number of RSV-related publications. The National Institutes of Health provided funding for one quarter of all RSV-related publications. However, few countries in Eastern Europe, Central America and the Caribbean published RSV-related research. Few epidemiological studies focused on adult populations over 18 years old (n = 28, 7%) with only five publications specifically investigating elderly populations over 65.

Conclusions: This review identifies key regions and research institutions which contributed to RSV-related research during 2011-2015 as well as the donor agencies which supported this research. Further research investment is required in a number of countries. More research in the elderly and in high-risk adults is required given the lack of studies pertaining to these populations. Researchers and those commissioning research can use the data from this review to identify productive research institutions and geographical gaps in RSV research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: Harry Campbell is the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global Health. To ensure that any possible conflict of interest relevant to the journal has been addressed, this article was reviewed according to best practice guidelines of international editorial organisations. Harry Campbell reports grants and personal fees from WHO, grants and personal fees from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, grants and personal fees from Sanofi, during the conduct of the study. Harish Nair reports grants and personal fees from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, during the conduct of the study; grants and personal fees from World Health Organisation, grants and personal fees from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, grants and personal fees from SANOFI, grants from Innovative Medicines Initiative (Horizon 2020), grants from National Institute Of Health Research, outside the submitted work. The authors completed the Unified Competing Interest form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author), and declare no other competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of literature review for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-related publications.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) studies published by country in Europe and US state in the USA. Panel A. Map showing European countries by number of RSV related publications. Panel B. Map showing US states by number of RSV related publications. Panel C. Map showing European countries by number of epidemiological RSV publications. Panel D. Map showing US states by number of epidemiological RSV publications. Panel E. Map showing European countries by number of clinical RSV publications. Panel F. Map showing US states by number of clinical RSV publications. Panel G. Map showing European countries by number of laboratory RSV publications. Panel H. Map showing US states by number of laboratory RSV publications.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Top institutions that published respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) studies 2011-2015 (number of publications on the horizontal axis). Figure displays only institutes which were identified as having more than five publications.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Top agencies providing funding for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) research by number of RSV studies published 2011-2015. Figure displays only funders which were identified as having funded more than five publications
Figure 5
Figure 5
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) publications by year, study type and UN region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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