Research Trends in Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Psychotropic Drugs over Two Decades: Insights from Bibliometric Analysis

Introduction: With the rising use of psychotropic drugs, reports of adverse events have increased accordingly. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) can improve the clinical efficacy of psychotropic drugs. Nevertheless, bibliometric research in this field is scarce, and conducting such research would contribute to future work. Methods: The literature on TDM of psychotropic drugs published during 2005-2024 was obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Bibliometric analysis and visualization were conducted by VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Scimago Graphica. Results: A total of 1615 articles were retrieved, showing an upward trend over the past two decades. The most influential country and institution were the United States and Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. Keyword analysis showed that clozapine, carbamazepine, lamotrigine, risperidone, olanzapine, and valproic acid are the key psychotropic drugs in current TDM research. Meanwhile, mass spectrometry technology, genetic testing, and population pharmacokinetics have promoted the development of TDM. Results: A total of 1615 articles were retrieved, showing an upward trend over the past two decades. The most influential country and institution were the United States and Johannes Gutenberg Univer-sity of Mainz. Keyword analysis showed that clozapine, carbamazepine, lamotrigine, risperidone, olanzapine, and valproic acid are the key psychotropic drugs in current TDM research. Meanwhile, mass spectrometry technology, genetic testing, and population pharmacokinetics have promoted the development of TDM. Discussion: This study revealed that TDM is widely applied in psychotropic drugs, and TDM is necessary to achieve precision medicine. The emergence of mass spectrometry has greatly promoted the development of TDM, making its clinical application more efficient and accurate. Although this study only used a single database from Web of Science, our results could still provide valuable references for clinical individualized treatment. Discussion: This study revealed that TDM is widely applied in psychotropic drugs, and TDM is necessary to achieve precision medicine. The emergence of mass spectrometry has greatly promoted the development of TDM, making its clinical application more efficient and accurate. Although this study only used a single database from Web of Science, our results could still provide valuable ref-erences for clinical individualized treatment. Conclusion: This study systematically analyzed the literature on the TDM of psychotropic drugs. These findings would provide valuable references for further development in this field.