Research trends and evidence gaps in integrative palliative care for cancer patients: a bibliometric analysis

Palliative care for cancer patients has gained increasing recognition for its significance by improving patient quality of end of life care. However, unmet needs persist due to the limitations of conventional medical interventions and therapeutic approaches. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) interventions have potential applications in palliative care. This study aimed to investigate research trends and identify evidence gaps in this field through a bibliometric analysis of published research on the Web of Science (WoS).

The WoS database was comprehensively searched up to October 2025 for publications related to CAM used in palliative care. The extracted bibliographic information included basic study details and a citation analysis to identify the most influential publications. Additionally, thematic evolution analysis was conducted to structurally understand the research evolution. Co-word networks were constructed using author keywords from the included publications and were clustered based on density (development degree) and centrality (relevance degree).

A total of 588 publications from 217 sources between 1995 and 2026 were included in the analysis. The annual growth rate of publications was estimated to be 9.67%. The United States of America, China, and United Kingdom emerged as the most productive countries in terms of publication output. Studies of music therapy, aromatherapy & massage, and acupuncture played key roles in integrative palliative care research, while digital health and telemedicine emerged as new areas of focus. Nevertheless, significant limitations in the evidence for these interventions, such as small sample sizes and methodological weaknesses in clinical trials, remain substantial barriers to establishing robust evidence.

This study highlights the continuous growth in research on CAM interventions in palliative care. Future studies are essential to establish the clinical evidence for individual interventions and future emerging and under-evaluated approaches in this field.