The baseline time span for this database is (publication years)
1999-October 31, 2009 from the fifth bimonthly update (a 10-year + 10-month
period). The resulting database contained 15,996 (10 years) and 5,914 (2
years) papers; 46,590 authors; 113 nations; 2,046 journals; and 9,945
institutions. See additional paper information below in the overview &
methodology sections.
Interviews, first-person essays, and profiles about people in a
wide variety of fields which pertain to this special topic of
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
OVERVIEW
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive disease of
the lungs that makes breathing difficult—either through
overproduction of mucus, which causes the lungs to be clogged, or through
damage to the lungs themselves, such as inflammation of the airway walls.
The leading cause of COPD is cigarette smoking, but long-term exposure to
other substances that can irritate the lungs, such as air pollution or
chemical fumes, can also contribute. According to the National Heart, Lung
and Blood Institute, COPD is the fourth-leading cause of death in the
United States today, and while over 12 million people are currently living
with a diagnosis of COPD, a further 12 million are likely living with the
disease but are not aware of it. COPD has no cure at this time.
This month, ScienceWatch.com examines the literature on COPD over
the past decade and over the past two years. To construct the initial data
pool, the string "chronic obstructive
pulmonary*" OR "COPD" OR
"emphysema*" OR "chronic
obstructive bronchitis*" OR "chronic
obstructive airway*" OR "chronic obstructive
lung*" was employed to search titles, abstracts, and keywords of
original articles, reviews, and proceedings papers published between
January 1, 1999 and October 31, 2009. To make the paper lists more
on-target to the topic, we restricted to the following title keywords:
"chronic obstruct*" OR
"COPD" OR
"emphysema."
The search for the optimal treatment for COPD dominates both the ten-year
and two-year lists, with many large-scale clinical trials garnering
citation attention, including but not limited to the TORCH, ISOLDE,
TRISTAN, UPLIFT, and INSPIRE trials. The GOLD executive summary is covered
on both lists.
Other topics examined in the past decade include lung-volume-reduction
surgery, the nature of small-airway obstruction, multidimensional grading
systems, the relationship between exacerbation frequency and lung function
decline, the causative role of bacterial strains in exacerbations, and the
role of the inhibition of VEGF receptors in emphysema. Standards for
diagnosis and treatment and the molecular and cellular mechanisms of COPD
are reviewed.
Other areas of interest on the two-year list include the use of C-reactive
protein as a prognosis predictor, inhaled corticosteroid use and the risk
of hospitalization for pneumonia, reduced mortality in COPD patients using
statins, a review and meta-analysis of inhaled anticholinergics and major
adverse cardiovascular events, depressive symptoms in COPD, the role of
antielastin autoimmunity in smoking-induced emphysema patients, and
treating concomitant COPD and chronic heart failure. The global burden of
COPD, the outcomes of pharmacological trials, and the immunology of COPD
are reviewed.
Methodology: Methodology: The baseline time span for this
database is (publication years) 1999-October 31, 2009 from the fifth
bimonthly update (a 10-year + 10-month period). The resulting database
contained 15,996 (10 years) and 5,914 (2 years) papers; 46,590 authors; 113
nations; 2,046 journals; and 9,945 institutions. See additional paper
information below in the overview & methodology sections.
Rankings: Once the database was in place, it was used to
generate list of authors, journals, institutions, and nations. Rankings for
author, journal, institution, and country are listed in three ways:
according to total cites, total papers, and total cites/paper*. The paper
thresholds and corresponding percentages used to determine scientist,
institution, country, and journal rankings according to total cites/paper,
and total papers respectively are as follows:
Entity
Authors
Institutions
Nations
Journals
Thresholds
12
53
5
5
Percentage:
1%
1%
50%
50%
*Unless otherwise specified, all rankings have a
5 paper threshold for all measures.