JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Postoperative sleep is closely associated with recovery in patients undergoing surgery.

Objective:

This study aims to analyze the research status and developmental trends of postoperative sleep between 2014 and 2024.

Methods:

Publications were retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection. Excel and VOSviewer were used to analyze the articles regarding publication trends, countries, institutions, authors, journals, and keywords.

Results:

A total of 964 articles was obtained for the bibliometric analyses. The number of publications on this topic has increased gradually over the last 10 years. Zhu Junchao was the most prolific author in the field and Chung Frances had the most citations. China has the most publications, followed by the United States of America. Scientific institutions in China, such as China Medical University and Capital Medical University, have led the way regarding publication numbers. Forty journals published at least 5 articles. BMC Anesthesiology, with 19 publications, ranked first. The articles published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, Anesthesia and Analgesia, Journal of Pain, and Journal of Sleep Medicine had higher citations on average. The high-frequency keywords are “sleep quality,” “postoperative pain,” “quality of life” and “surgery,” while “lung cancer,” “enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS),” “breast cancer” and “dexamethasone” are new topics in this area.

Conclusions:

There has been a large body of literature on postoperative sleep in the past 10 years. Authors and organizations from China are at the leading level, followed by those from the USA. Anesthesiology is a critical discipline in this field. Postoperative pain is closely related to postoperative sleep and has become a hot topic. Recent studies have mainly focused on lung and breast cancer surgeries. Postoperative sleep should be investigated as an element of ERAS.