The Role of Exercise in Lymphedema Management: A Bibliometric Analysis

OpenAlex · English

Lymphedema is a lifelong chronic health issue, and exercise approaches are considered one of the gold standards in lymphedema treatment. Numerous articles have been published on exercise approaches in lymphedema. In this study, we aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis of studies related to exercise in lymphedema. For this purpose, a search was conducted in the Scopus database on October 24, 2023, using the keywords “lymphedema and exercise’’ and 869 documents were examined. Data were downloaded from the relevant search engine. These data were analyzed using the Vosviewer and Biblioshiny package programs. Publication dates ranged from 1957 to 2023. According to the analysis results, while the United States is the leading contributor in terms of article publications (n=979), Austria leads in terms of international collaboration (n=401). The most cited publication using the keywords lymphedema and exercise is the article by Campbell et al. (2019) titled “Exercise Guidelines for Cancer Survivors: Consensus Statement from International Multidisciplinary Roundtable,’’ published in the “Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise’’ journal with 1101 citations. “Lymphatic Research and Biology”, “Lymphology”, and “Supportive Care in Cancer” are the top three journals with the most citations in this field. Particularly, the University of Pennsylvania stands out as the most prolific institution contributing to this area with productive research output. The most prolific author with 29 articles is Kathryn H. Schmitz. The most frequently used keywords include “lymphedema”, “breast cancer”, and “lymphedema, quality of life”. The findings of this study are valuable not only for researchers and practitioners interested in lymphedema and exercise but also for anyone interested in practical applications and potential future developments. Ultimately, this comprehensive information guide could serve as an important resource and roadmap for future studies.