Current status and trends for natural products on hyperuricemia research: a scientometric visualization analysis from 2000 to 2021

OBJECTIVE: Hyperuricemia (HUA) is a metabolic disease caused by abnor-mal purine metabolism in the body. It also shows a trend of high incidence among younger people worldwide. More and more studies have shown that natural products can be used to treat HUA, and the literature in this field has been increas-ing in recent years. However, few bibliomet-ric analyses have systematically examined this field. Our study aims to analyze the published literature to identify trends and hotspots in nat-ural product therapy for HUA, present the re-search status and summarize critical topics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was conducted through the Web of Sci-ence Core Collection (WOSCC) database, using Bibliometric R, VOS Viewer, and CiteSpace to ex-amine the eligible publications. A total of 1,201 publications (1,040 articles and 161 reviews) con-cerning natural product therapy for HUA research between 2000 and 2021 were ultimately included.RESULTS: In recent years, research articles in this field have increased. China and the Unit-ed States are the main driving forces in this field and have a high academic reputation. China pub-lished the most relevant articles, while the United States cited the most. Chinese Acad Sci is the in-stitution with the most relevant research results. Flavonoids, xanthine oxidase, antioxidant activ-ity, and gout are the current research hotspots and future research trend topics.CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide a gener-al overview of the leading research directions of natural products in HUA research. The mecha-nisms of natural products, especially those relat-ed to xanthine oxidase, antioxidant activity, and gout, may soon become hot spots and should be closely watched. The field of natural product therapy for HUA is going through rapid develop-ment, and our research provides a valuable ref-erence for clinical researchers and practitioners.