Pre-exposure Prophylaxis in HIV Research: A Latent Dirichlet Allocation Analysis (GAPRESEARCH)
Bach Xuan Tran 1, Hai Thanh-Phan 2, Quang N. Nguyen 3, Olagoke A. Ewedairo 4, Giang T. Vu 5, Giang Hi Ha 6, Thao P. Nguyen 7, Carl A. Latkin 8, Cyrus S.H. Ho 9, Roger C.M. Ho
1 Department of Health Economics, Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam; Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland, US; 2 Institute for Global Health Innovations, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam; 3 Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam, Institute for Global Health Innovations, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam; UnivLyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France; 4 GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 5 Center of Excellence in Evidence-based Medicine, Nguyen Tat Thanh University. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 6 Department of Health Technology Assessment, Institute for Global Health Innovations, Duy Tan University. Da Nang, Vietnam; 7 Center of Excellence in Evidence-based Medicine, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 8 Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland, USA; 9 Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital. Singapore, Singapore
*Correspondence: Bach Xuan Tran, Email not available
Abstract
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to be an effective approach to prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections; however, implementation of the service remains challenging. This global bibliometric analysis aims to describe the current trends in HIV research prevention through PrEP to reveal the potential gaps of knowledge and to put forward recommendations for future research. A bibliometric analysis was conducted through Web of Science from 1990 to 2017. Exploratory factor analysis was also employed to find research domains emerging from the abstracts’ contents. Latent Dirichlet allocation, which is a topic modeling algorithm, was utilized to perform text mining and determine relationships among text documents. A total of 4852 papers regarding HIV PrEP research were retrieved. The number of papers and their impact has significantly increased. Preventing sexual transmissions, improving access, and quality of health-care services for current users, as well as men who have sex with men, pregnant women and children, were the research domains most related to PrEP. We found a data gap in research regarding sex workers, potential side effects of PrEP, and misjudgment toward PrEP users. Despite the growth in research about HIV PrEP, there exist barriers to scaling up the implementation of PrEP worldwide and for such intervention to reach its fWull potential. International research collaboration efforts to investigate the potential safety concerns of PrEP and develop strategies to eliminate social misjudgment against PrEP users are warranted. Addressing these knowledge gaps might facilitate the development of effective global implementation strategies for PrEP in the future.
