A bibliometric analysis of epidemiological studies investigating the relationship between community fluoridated water consumption and human cancers

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of the study was to do a bibliometric analysis of epidemiological studies investigating the relationship between community fluoridated water consumption and human cancer occurrence. Material and Methods: A systematic PubMed and SCOPUS database search was done to collect articles of epidemiological studies investigating the relationship between community fluoridated water intake and human cancer occurrence. All relevant articles published in English, published from the year 2000 till November 23, 2021, and with accessible full text were obtained. Bibliometric data were obtained from each of these articles and analyzed using the Microsoft Office Excel 2021 (Microsoft Corporation, Washington DC, USA) software. Results: A total of 12 articles were obtained for this study. These articles investigated different cancer sites. The least investigated cancer sites were the eye (n = 1 article), lip (n = 1 article), and skin (n = 1 article), while the most investigated site was the bone (n = 8 articles). A total of 38 institutions sourced these epidemiological articles. The three institutions with the highest number of authors of these study articles were Harvard University (n = 6 authors), Moi University (n = 5 authors), and Newcastle University (n = 5 authors). Less than half (5/12) of these articles were funded. The UK was the country with the highest number of funding organizations on the research topic area. Conclusion: The volume of research investigating the relationship between community fluoridated water intake and cancer occurrence is very low, with zero output from several countries. Globally, the USA is the hottest spot for research on this topic area.