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Introduction
Action is urgently needed to counteract the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and the resulting social and economic impact. There is global evidence about the “best buys” for addressing the main NCD risk factors such as tobacco control, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and alcohol misuse. However, it is unknown how much research is focused on informing the low-cost/high impact strategies that stand to make the biggest impact on reducing the NCD burden in LMICs.
The purpose of this study was to assess the degree of research activity on NCD priority interventions in LMICs by using bibliometric analysis to quantify the number of relevant peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Research Design
A multidisciplinary, multi-lingual journal database was searched for articles on NCD priority interventions. The interventions examined emphasize population-wide, policy/regulation/legislation approaches. The publication timeframe searched was the year 2000 to 2011. Of the 11,211 articles yielded, 525 met the inclusion criteria.
Results
Over the 12 year period, the number of articles published increased. The number of articles differs substantially between regions: Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest (127) and Middle East and North Africa had the lowest (11). 112 publications were set in multiple regions. Of the three groups of interventions, “tobacco control” leads in publications for each region. “Healthy diets/physical activity” and “alcohol misuse” alternate second and third place. Half of the publications have a first author with a high-income country institutional affiliation.
Implications
While rising global attention to NCDs has likely produced an increase in peer-reviewed publications on NCDs in LMICs, publication rates are still very low, suggesting very limited research activity on priority interventions. More research is needed on high priority interventions. Opportunities for LMIC researchers to publish more should be improved and research funders should reexamine if intervention research is enough of a funding priority.
Learning Objectives: Assess the degree of research activity on NCD priority interventions in LMICs by using bibliometric analysis to quantify the number of relevant peer-reviewed scientific publications.