Metabolic response to burn injury: a comprehensive bibliometric study

Abstract

Objective: Burns lead to systemic changes manifested by systemic disturbances in water-electrolyte balance and systemic metabolic and inflammatory responses. The hypermetabolic response after a burn injury relies on metabolic, hormonal, and inflammatory dysregulation mechanisms. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the burn metabolism research field, identifying key trends, influential contributors, and emerging research hotspots to inform future investigative efforts. Ultimately, we conducted an extensive review of the literature, synthesizing the findings to clarify the present understanding within our field of study.

Methods: We obtained 8,823 scientific publications on burn injury and metabolism from the core Web of Science (WOS) database collection. In this work, biblioshiny was used to visualize and analyze the data, and VOSviewer was used to verify the results.

Results: From a total of 8,823 publications, we found a general upward trend in annual publications and citation frequency. According to Bradford's Law, 21 high-production journals were classified as core sources based on the number of publications, and the most productive journal was Burns. The most published countries and authors in this field were the United States and Herndon DN. The most local cited document in this field was the article titled "Catecholamines: Mediator of the Hypermetabolic Response to Thermal Injury" authored by Wilmore DW. The thematic map showed that studies on injury, thermal injury, and sepsis were relatively mature. In contrast, research on metabolism, stress, and responses, and research on mortality, resistance, and management were less well-developed but were essential for the field.

Conclusion: Research on burns and metabolism is increasing. Based on the bibliometric analysis, our study summarized the complex interplay between burn-induced systemic metabolic alterations and inflammatory responses, emphasizing the significance of hypermetabolism and its management. The role of propranolol, insulin, oxandrolone, and nutritional interventions in modulating the hypermetabolic state was discussed. Additionally, our study underscored the challenges of managing sepsis and drug-resistant infections in burn patients as an important future area of research.

Keywords: burn injury; inflammatory; management; metabolism; thermal injury.

Figure 1

Analytic process of metabolism and burns research.

Figure 2

Countries/regions analysis. (A) Top 20 countries/regions of corresponding authors for metabolism and burns research. SCP, single-country publications. MCP, multiple-country publications. (B) Countries/regions production and collaboration world map for metabolism and burns research. The number of publications is shown in blue, with darker colors representing a larger number. The red lines between countries/regions refer to collaborations between them, and the thickness of the lines represents the strength of international collaborations.

Figure 3

Authors analysis. (A) Network map showing cooperation among authors. (B) Top 10 authors with the most local impact measured by H index for metabolism and burns research. (C) Authors’ production over time for metabolism and burns research.

Figure 4

Journals analysis. (A) Core sources according to Bradford’s law for metabolism and burns research. (B) Top 20 journals with the highest local impact measured by H-index for metabolism and burns research.

Figure 5

Keywords analysis. (A) Visualized word cloud based on the top 50 most frequent keywords for metabolism and burns research. (B) Co-occurrence network for metabolism and burns research.

Figure 6

Keywords analysis. (A) Thematic map for metabolism and burns research. The density represents development, the centrality represents the importance. Upper right, upper left, lower left, and lower right are quadrants 1 to 4, representing motor themes, niche themes, emerging/declining themes, and basic themes, respectively. (B) Thematic evolution from 1925 to 2023, with cut-off points in 1995, 2005 and 2015 for metabolism and burns research.

Figure 7

Schematic diagram. Stress hormones play an important role in the metabolic changes of burn patients after suffering severe burns. Created in BioRender (141).

Figure 8

Schematic diagram. Clinical management for burn patients, including pharmacotherapy and nutritional intervention. Created in BioRender (142).