Background: The escalating prevalence of obesity poses increased risk for public health, including an increasing incidence of cancer. The association between obesity and cancer has become an area of increasing concern and investigation. Literature on the treatment of obesity leading to a reduction in the incidence of cancer and as an adjunct to cancer-directed therapy is beginning to emerge. We conducted a bibliometric analysis to study the current trends in published literature.
Objectives: The aims of the study were to explore the evolving landscape of obesity-related cancer management and identify the current areas of active research in the field.
Methods: We searched the SCOPUS database on December 11, 2023, to identify the content and patterns of the literature published on the subject of ‘treatment of obesity to prevent or treat cancers’ using keywords, ‘(obesity OR overweight OR ‘Body Mass Index’ OR ‘body weight’) AND (cancer OR neoplasm) AND (prevention OR ‘bariatric surgery’ OR ‘weight loss’ OR ‘weight reduction’)’ in the title, abstract or the author-supplied keywords. After removing non-English and non-journal articles, a manual search was carried out to ensure relevance to the research question. The ‘bibliometric package’ version R 4.3.2 binaries for macOS 11 (Big Sur) and higher, signed and notarised packages, were used to extract data.
Results: Over the study period, a total of 724 documents were published, 624 were subjected to manual screening and 95 were identified for analysis. An increase in the number of articles was seen from 2017 onward. ‘Bradford’s law’ was applied, and 5 core journals published 33/95 (34.7%) of all articles and received 1,808/4,399 citations (41.1%). The vast majority of articles, reported on the use of bariatric surgery for weight reduction as a method for cancer prevention and as an adjunct to cancer-directed treatment.
Conclusion: The treatment of obesity seems to be emerging as a strategy for the prevention and treatment of cancer. The field is relatively new, publications have begun to emerge in the last 10 years, and there is a growing interest in bariatric surgery as a method to prevent obesity-related cancers.
