Traditional Chinese Medicine Nursing Intervention in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with Gastrointestinal...

At present, bibliometric studies focusing explicitly on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) nursing for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction are limited, leaving critical gaps in understanding research dynamics and knowledge evolution. This study aimed to systematically analyse literature on TCM nursing interventions for COPD complicated by GI dysfunction, using bibliometric methods to identify research trends, thematic structures, and future research directions.

This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of relevant literature. Publications from 2015 to 2025 on TCM nursing for COPD with GI dysfunction were retrieved from the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. After removing duplicates, 1,563 relevant publications were analysed. Bibliographic data were extracted and analysed using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and bibliometrix (R package).

Annual publication volume exhibited steady growth, peaking in 2024. China emerged as the primary research contributor, collaborating extensively with the USA, Australia, and European nations. Institutional analysis revealed key research centres predominantly located in China, with increasing international cooperation. Core authors, such as Chen Wang and Ke Huang, significantly influenced research collaboration networks. Major thematic clusters included pulmonary rehabilitation, quality of life improvement, gut-lung interactions, and molecular mechanisms. Landmark references reflected the growing integration of TCM nursing into conventional COPD care and the increasing attention on patient-centred outcomes.

Research in this niche is increasingly oriented towards rehabilitation-focused integrative care and mechanism-informed perspectives (gut-lung axis). Future studies should prioritise a GI-inclusive core outcome set, standardised reporting of nursing-deliverable TCM modalities, and pragmatic/hybrid effectiveness-implementation designs aligned with gut-lung-related hypotheses.