Abstract
Purpose : The thesaurus assigned to asbestos-related literature published in Japan was quantitatively investigated and the free terms contained in the titles of these articles were analyzed through text mining to delineate sequential trends in asbestos research.
Methods : For basic data, the domestic literature was searched using the Ichushi-Web (Japan Medical Abstracts Society); and English-language literature was searched via PubMed. For analysis, text mining was conducted with the aid of Trend Search 2008 (Social Survey Research Information Co., Ltd.).
Results : Since 2005, the volume of domestic literature has rapidly increased and this phenomenon can be explained by the increasing numbers of proceedings and commentaries on the subject. Using the thesaurus, a number of terms related to the ill effects on human health were extracted (e. g., “mesothelioma”, “pleural tumor”, “occupational exposure” and “lung tumor”). Among the related key words, analysis by text mining frequently detected “malignant pleural mesothelioma”, “asbestos (in a Japanese equivalent) ”, “asbestos”, “screening” and “mesothelioma”. Five subject fields were identified from network charts.
Conclusion : Triggered by the “Kubota Shock” of 2005 and the implementation of the “Ordinance to Prevent Asbestosis”, the number of Japanese reports on asbestos suddenly increased. With the elaboration of the relationship between the toxicity of asbestos and mesothelioma, terms such as the latter came to appear more frequently in the thesaurus. From the network charts developed through text mining, the relationship among free terms (with special reference to malignant pleural mesothelioma) was elaborated.
