The Profile of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: Analyzing the NCD burden, research outputs and international research collaboration
The Profile of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: Analyzing the NCD burden, research outputs and international research collaboration
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0232077
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发表时间：
2020-04-27
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Sullivan, Richard
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Aggarwal, Ajay;Patel, Preeti;Sullivan, Richard
目的尽管中东和北非(MENA)地区的风险因素暴露和非传染性疾病(NCD)死亡率不断上升，但公共卫生政策反应缓慢，似乎与每个国家的社会、经济和政治情况不符。良好的卫生政策和成果与积极开展研究的文化密切相关，特别是在非传染性疾病方面。在这项研究中，我们介绍了1991至2018年间代表整个中东和北非地区的10个关键国家的非传染性疾病研究的综合分析结果，特别是癌症、糖尿病和心血管疾病。方法本研究使用经过充分验证的文献计量学方法，根据Web of Science数据库中的文章和综述，对中东和北非地区生物医学研究的十个主要国家的研究成果进行了定量分析。我们对三种非传染性疾病和生物医学研究中的每一种都使用了过滤器来识别WOS中的相关论文。选择进行分析的国家基于分析和稳定期间的研究产出量，包括埃及、伊朗、约旦、科威特、黎巴嫩、阿曼、卡塔尔、沙特阿拉伯、土耳其和阿拉伯联合酋长国。结果在12,341种期刊中发现了495,108篇生物医学论文(在这里，我们将土耳其纳入中东和北非)。在所有三种非传染性疾病中，土耳其的产量一直是最高的。伊朗在研究产出方面有了相当大的增长，在所有三个非传染性疾病中都位居第二。与财富(以国内生产总值衡量)相比，一些中东和北非国家，特别是阿曼、卡塔尔、科威特和阿拉伯联合酋长国，似乎在生物医学研究方面投资严重不足。关于对特定非传染性疾病的投资，我们注意到，与糖尿病或心血管疾病相比，大多数中东和北非国家对癌症研究的投入相对更大，尽管心血管疾病造成了与健康相关的最大负担。在考虑研究成果的引文影响时，卡塔尔、黎巴嫩、阿拉伯联合酋长国和阿曼的引文分数显著上升。然而，在中东拥有最大生物医学研究产出的土耳其，总体上被引用分数最低。非传染性疾病研究的区域内合作水平差异很大。沙特阿拉伯和埃及是中东和北非地区占主导地位的研究合作者。然而，土耳其和伊朗是该地区主要的研究活跃国家之一，几乎没有显示出合作的证据。在国际合作方面，美国和英国是该地区占主导地位的研究伙伴，其次是德国和法国。结论在分析期间，中东和北非地区国家非传染性疾病研究活动的增加可能表明，反映全球总体趋势的非传染性疾病日益受到重视，一些国家在研究方面投入了更多资金。然而，该区域内的某些国家已经确定，这些改进的可持续性存在几个风险。例如，缺乏训练有素的研究人员，政治承诺和财政支持不足，以及对更广泛的全球影响至关重要的国际合作微乎其微。
ObjectivesDespite the rising risk factor exposure and non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality across the Middle East and the North African (MENA) region, public health policy responses have been slow and appear discordant with the social, economic and political circumstances in each country. Good health policy and outcomes are intimately linked to a research-active culture, particularly in NCD. In this study we present the results of a comprehensive analysis of NCD research with particular a focus on cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in 10 key countries that represent a spectrum across MENA between 1991 and 2018.MethodsThe study uses a well validated bibliometric approach to undertake a quantitative analysis of research output in the ten leading countries in biomedical research in the MENA region on the basis of articles and reviews in the Web of Science database. We used filters for each of the three NCDs and biomedical research to identify relevant papers in the WoS. The countries selected for the analyses were based on the volume of research outputs during the period of analysis and stability, included Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.ResultsA total of 495,108 biomedical papers were found in 12,341 journals for the ten MENA countries (here we consider Turkey in the context of MENA). For all three NCDs, Turkey's output is consistently the highest. Iran has had considerable growth in research output to occupy second place across all three NCDs. It appears that, relative to their wealth (measured by GDP), some MENA countries, particularly Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, are substantially under-investing in biomedical research. In terms of investment on particular NCDs, we note the relatively greater commitment on cancer research compared with diabetes or cardiovascular disease in most MENA countries, despite cardiovascular disease causing the greatest health-related burden. When considering the citation impact of research outputs, there have been marked rises in citation scores in Qatar, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates and Oman. However, Turkey, which has the largest biomedical research output in the Middle East has the lowest citation scores overall. The level of intra-regional collaboration in NCD research is highly variable. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the dominant research collaborators across the MENA region. However, Turkey and Iran, which are amongst the leading research-active countries in the area, show little evidence of collaboration. With respect to international collaboration, the United States and United Kingdom are the dominant research partners across the region followed by Germany and France.ConclusionThe increase in research activity in NCDs across the MENA region countries during the time period of analysis may signal both an increasing focus on NCDs which reflects general global trends, and greater investment in research in some countries. However, there are several risks to the sustainability of these improvements that have been identified in particular countries within the region. For example, a lack of suitably trained researchers, low political commitment and poor financial support, and minimal international collaboration which is essential for wider global impact.