A Bibliometric Meta-Analysis of Colistin Resistance in <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>

• Main Authors: Ozioma Forstinus Nwabor, Pawarisa Terbtothakun, Supayang P. Voravuthikunchai, Sarunyou Chusri
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Diseases
• Subjects: colistin resistance; <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>; chromosomal mediated resistance; plasmid-borne resistance; bibliometric analysis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9721/9/2/44

Colistin is a last resort antibiotic medication for the treatment of infections caused by carbapenem-resistant <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>. In recent years, various mechanisms have been reported to mediate colistin resistance in <i>K. pneumoniae</i>. This study reports a bibliometric analysis of published articles retrieved from the Scopus database relating to colistin resistance in <i>K. pneumoniae</i>. The research trends in colistin resistance and mechanisms of resistance were considered. A total of 1819 research articles published between 1995 and 2019 were retrieved, and the results indicated that 50.19% of the documents were published within 2017–2019. The USA had the highest participation with 340 (14.31%) articles and 14087 (17.61%) citations. Classification based on the WHO global epidemiological regions showed that the European Region contributed 42% of the articles while the American Region contributed 21%. The result further indicated that 45 countries had published at least 10 documents with strong international collaborations amounting to 272 links and a total linkage strength of 735. A total of 2282 keywords were retrieved; however, 57 keywords had ≥15 occurrences with 764 links and a total linkage strength of 2388. Furthermore, <i>mcr</i>-1, colistin resistance, NDM, <i>mgrB</i>, ceftazidime-avibactam, MDR, combination therapy, and carbapenem-resistant <i>Enterobacteriaceae</i> were the trending keywords. Concerning funders, the USA National Institute of Health funded 9.1% of the total research articles, topping the list. The analysis indicated poor research output, collaboration, and funding from Africa and South-East Asia and demands for improvement in international research collaboration.