A bibliometric analysis of chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus from 2004 to 2023.

Background: Chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) is an itch directly associated with kidney disease. Currently, there is no bibliometric analysis literature in this field. Therefore, this study employs bibliometric methods to understand the characteristics, hotspots, and frontiers of global CKD-aP research in the past 20 years.

Methods: Publications relevant to CKD-aP, published from 2004 to 2023, were retrieved from the Science Citation Index-Expanded Web of Science Core Collection. Then, we used VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Scimago Graphica software to construct visualization maps.

Results: A total of 472 papers were retrieved. The author with the most published papers is Szepietowski (19 papers). Regarding institutions, the Medical University of Wroclaw (18 papers) has the highest publication output. The most prolific country is the United States (112 papers). The author with the highest number of citations is Pisoni RL (199 citations). Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation (401 citations) is the journal with the highest citation frequency. Cluster analysis of co-citation shows the largest cluster and current hotspot as "CKD-associated pruritus" (140 papers). The most frequently occurring keyword is "dialysis" (181 occurrences), and the keyword with the highest burst intensity is "skin" (5.75). Keywords related to the etiology and treatment of CKD-aP include "histamine," "naltrexone," and "gabapentin."

Conclusions: Exploring the definite etiology and mechanisms of CKD-aP and effective treatment methods are crucial research topics in the past and future. Additionally, this study provides a fresh perspective on the CKD-aP field, offering valuable insights for future research endeavors.