title: Continuous sedation (CS) until death: mapping the literature by bibliometric analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sedation at the end of life, regardless of the nomenclature, is an increasingly debated practice at both clinical and bioethical levels. However, little is known about the characteristics and trends in scientific publications in this field of study.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article presents a bibliometric analysis of the scientific publications on continuous sedation until death.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four electronic databases (MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO®) were searched for the indexed material published between 1945 and 2011. This search resulted in bibliographic data of 273 published outputs that were analyzed using bibliometric techniques.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data revealed a trend of increased scientific publication from the early 1990s. Published outputs, diverse in type (comments/letters, articles, reviews, case reports, editorials), were widely distributed across 94 journals of varying scientific disciplines (medicine, nursing, palliative care, law, ethics). Most journals (72.3%) were classified under Medical and Health Sciences, with the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management identified as the major journal in the field covering 12.1% of the total publications. Empirical research articles, mostly of a quantitative design, originated from 17 countries. Although Japan and The Netherlands were found to be the leaders in research article productivity, it was the U.K. and the U.S. that ranked top in terms of the quantity of published outputs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first bibliometric analysis on continuous sedation until death that can be used to inform future studies. Further research is needed to refine controversies on terminology and ethical acceptability of the practice, as well as conditions and modalities of its use.
authors.affiliation: International Observatory on End-of-Life Care, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom. e.papavasiliou@lancaster.ac.uk
authors.forename: Evangelia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Papavasiliou
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brearley
authors.forename: Jayne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seymour
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015994:Incidence; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives