Research status and hotspots of the systemic immune-inflammation index: A bibliometric analysis

OBJECTIVE: The systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) has been linked to outcomes in various malignancies and has demonstrated utility in the diagnosis and prognosis of many conditions. This biomarker is gaining increasing recognition in the medical community. Understanding its developmental trajectory, critical areas of research, and future directions is essential for advancing its clinical application. However, there has been no literature bibliometric analysis on the SII. This study intended to visually analyze the research status and hotspots related to the SII. METHODS: We utilized the Web of Science database to retrieve literature pertaining to the SII. Annual publication trends were statistically analyzed using Excel, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace for the visual analysis of authorship, institutional affiliations, countries, keywords, and co-cited references. RESULTS: Two thousand seven hundred sixty-three publications were included. Fifteen thousand one hundred forty-eight authors contributed to these publications; 726 core authors represented 4.79% of the total. The leading countries were China (1532), Turkey (641), USA (91), Italy (86), and Japan (67), with the United States displaying the highest centrality score of 0.55. The top 3 institutions that contributed to the literature were the University of Health Sciences, Capital Medical University, and Sichuan University. Keyword analysis indicated that the research hotspots predominantly focused on tumors and their prognosis. Co-citation clustering revealed evolving themes, including prognostic significance, national health, myocardical infarction, covid-19 patient and disease activity, and multicenter study. CONCLUSION: The SII has garnered significant attention as a novel inflammation-related biomarker. However, further longitudinal and cross-sectional studies should be conducted to expand our understanding of its applications.