ABSTRACT
Objective:To study the current status of research in the field of iodine nutrition for pregnant women and to detect the hot spots and future trends in the field of iodine nutrition for pregnant women.Methods:Using "pregnant women" and "iodine" as search terms, we searched the literature related to iodine nutrition in pregnant women from January 2000 to December 2021 in China Knowledge Network (CNKI) database, Wanfang database and Chinese Medical Journal Full Text Database. CiteSpace 6.2.2.0 software was used to sort out the publication status, core authors and research hotspots of the papers.Results:A total of 879 valid papers were included, with an overall number of publications increasing trend from 2000 - 2021 and a decline after 2017. Among the 879 papers, 29 first authors were core authors (M≈3), and 109 papers were published, accounting for 12.40% of the total literature; several research groups with relatively stable collaborative relationships had been formed, with the larger collaborative team of Chen Zupei and Zhang Wanqi at Tianjin Medical University. Keyword co-occurrence analysis showed that pregnant women, urinary iodine, and iodine nutrition were high-frequency keywords; keywords with mediated centrality > 0.07 were pregnant women (0.48), pregnancy (0.40), urinary iodine (0.37), iodine deficiency disorders (0.25), iodine nutrition (0.20), thyroid (0.12), thyroxine (0.10), infants and children (0.09). The analysis of the emergent words showed that the evolution of iodine nutrition research themes in pregnant women was broadly based on studies of iodine nutrition monitoring results in key populations such as newborns and infants from 2000 - 2011, studies such as the range of thyroxine reference values during pregnancy from 2012 - 2016, and changes in iodine nutrition status of pregnant women and children after adjustment of iodized salt concentration from 2017 - 2021. The clustering results showed that a total of 355 keywords were aggregated to yield 10 clusters, and the average profile value of clusters (Silhouette) > 0.8, which was a reasonable clustering result; the study topics can be divided into three major categories, iodine nutrition and goiter monitoring results in key populations, thyroid hormones and pregnancy outcomes during pregnancy, and studies on thyroid-related diseases.Conclusions:Iodine plays an important role in the health of pregnant women and their offspring, and changes in the iodine nutrition status of pregnant women should be closely monitored. In response to the new trends of change that are currently present, multidisciplinary cooperation should be developed to respond to social concerns and jointly promote the maintenance of iodine nutrition in pregnant women at appropriate levels.