A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research on Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections

Abstract

Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) are a clinical syndrome characterized by the abrupt onset of major personality, movement, and behavioral changes in a patient with a history of streptococcal infection. We aimed to do a bibliometric analysis of the published research on PANDAS. All the published articles available on the PubMed database from the time of inception till August 2022 were included in the study. All the PubMed IDs (PMID) of the articles were entered in Harvard Catalyst, a free online software, for bibliometric analysis, and data were extracted and verified. A total of 289 relevant published articles were identified. The average number of authors per article was 4.89 and the average number of times an article was cited was 11.19 (excluding self-citation). The H-index of the published articles was 31. The Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology published the maximum number of articles ( n = 36). The highest number of average citations (39.50 citations/articles) was for the articles published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The most common type of articles were journal articles ( n = 259) and of which 27 were original research articles. Most of the original research discusses the effectiveness of various interventions (penicillin and other antibiotic prophylaxis, role of immunoglobulin), neuropsychiatric symptoms, and outcomes in the longitudinal course. Though PANDAS is a well-researched entity, more clinical trials, and large-scale studies will help provide better insight on this subject.