title: Publication analysis on insomnia: how much has been done in the past two decades?
abstract: Insomnia has been a rising public concern in recent years. As one example of a multidisciplinary topic, the theme of insomnia research has gradually shifted over time; however, there is very little quantitative characterization of the research trends in insomnia. The current study aims to quantitatively analyze trends in insomnia publications for the past 20 years. We retrospectively analyzed insomnia-related publications retrieved from PubMed and Google Scholar between 1994 and from a number of different perspectives. We investigated the major areas of research focus for insomnia, journal characteristics, as well as trends in clinical management and treatment modalities. The resulting 5841 publications presented an exponential growth trend over the past two decades, with mean annual growth rates at nearly 10% for each publication type. Analysis of major research focuses indicated that depression, hypnotics and sedatives, questionnaires, and polysomnography are the most common topics at present. Furthermore, we found that while studies on drug therapy and adverse effects decreased in the most recent five years, the greatest expansion of insomnia publications were in the areas of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and alternative therapies. Collectively, insomnia publications present a continuous trend of increase. While sedative and hypnotic drugs dominated the treatment of insomnia, non-pharmacological therapies may have great potential for advancement in future years. Future research effort is warranted for novel tools and clinical trials, especially on insomnia treatments with inadequate evidence or not-yet-clear efficacy and side effects.
authors.affiliation: Division of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Biotechnology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Sleep Center, Eye Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: IBM, Software Development Lab, Littleton, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Reference & Education Services, Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mita
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shuchen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Division of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Biotechnology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Chung-Kang
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Division of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Biotechnology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan. Electronic address: accyang@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Albert C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000639:trends; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000639:trends; D011642:Publications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives
keywords: Bibliometric study; Google Scholar; Insomnia; Nonpharmacological therapy; PubMed; Trends