Fig. 2: Network visualization of co-occurrence analysis of keywords corresponding to all retrievable articles related to PANS/PANDAS and pediatric catatonia.

The Vosviewer software was implemented to unconditionally investigate all available published articles pertaining to PANS, PANDAS, and pediatric catatonia. Bibliographies were extracted from the online Web of Science platform 2021–11–07. Data sets were visualized at an aggregate level in dependency of the relatedness of items determined by the number of articles in which key search terms occur together (co-occurrence of key search terms). For a detailed description pertaining to the methods underlying the bibliographic analysis, please see Supplementary Information. Both figures include the same baseline network visualization. Visual differences pertain to the highlighting of specific keywords and their associated terms. (1) Two major clusters were revealed, clearly separating research related to pediatric catatonia from that of PANS and/or PANDAS. (2) Research articles including the keyword “catatonia” co-occur with terms pertaining to severe mental disorders, advanced treatments, developmental disorders, and some terms perceived to be associated with immunopsychiatry. (3) By contrast, keywords pertaining to PANS and/or PANDAS were associated with infectious agents and complications thereof, neurodevelopmental disorders, medical conditions, autoimmunity, and immunopsychiatry-related treatments. (4) Notably, PANS/PANDAS keywords were not associated with any advanced treatment and only “psychosis” among the severe mental disorders.