Global Burden of Skin Disease Representation in the Literature (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Through research efforts focused on skin diseases with the highest reported disability-adjusted life years, the global burden of skin disease may be reduced. OBJECTIVE This study evaluates the representation of dermatologic conditions comprising the highest disability-adjusted life years in dermatology literature to identify areas that could benefit from greater research focus. METHODS The top ten skin disorders according to their respective disability-adjusted life years according to the 2013 Global Burden of Disease were identified using previous studies. The top five dermatology journals ranked by 2019 h-index were also identified. A PubMed search of each journal was performed using individual skin disease terms. From 2015-2020, all indexed publications pertaining to each disease were recorded and compared to the total number of publications for each journal surveyed. RESULTS A total of 19,727 articles were published among the five journals over the span of 2015-2020. While only ranking as the 8th highest in disability-adjusted life years, melanoma had the highest representation in the literature (10.11% of total publications, n=1995). Melanoma was followed in representation by psoriasis (9.81%, n=1936) and dermatitis (9.77%, n=1927). These three conditions comprised a total of 29.51% of total publications, while the remaining seven skin conditions were represented by a combined 6.79% of total publications. CONCLUSIONS This research identifies gaps in the literature related to the top skin diseases contributing to the global burden of disease. Our study provides insight into future opportunities of focused research on less-studied skin diseases to potentially aid in reducing the global burden of skin disease.