Rhodiola rosea’s relationship with stress, physical fatigue and endurance; a PubMed evaluation

Authors: Ramona Jurcău1, Ioana Jurcău2

Affiliation:     1”Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Dept. of Pathophysiology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

2Clinical Emergency Hospital for Children, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Abstract

Background. Rhodiola rosea is a well-known adaptogen, and among its actions are those of antistress and anti-fatigue protection.

Aims. The aim of the present research is the evaluation of the number of PubMed publications regarding Rhodiola rosea’s (RR) relationship with stress (S), physical fatigue (F) and endurance (E).

Methods. Analysis was performed: a) for specific selected keyword combinations (KWC): “RR” (RR), “RR and stress” (R+S), “RR and cortisol” (R+C), “RR and anxiety” (R+A),”RR and physical fatigue” (R+F),”RR and endurance” (R+E); and for some filter and subfilters provided by the PubMed site.

Results. A) Analysis of the number of publications (N). For RR, we found the largest: period of publication (54 years), N (743), average number of publications per publication period (13.76). Relative to RR, the highest % was for R+S (23.28%). B) Analysis of filters. a) Text availability. The percentage of the number of abstracts (A) was high and close to the coresponding N (NC). The highest % of RR was for R+S in A (23.52%), full text (FT) (27.8%) and free full text (FFT) (27.23%). b) Species. The highest number was for RR, both in animals (An) (322) and humans (H) (211). The highest % of RR was for R+S, both in An (24.53%) and H (32.7%). c) Sex. The highest number was for RR in H males (HM) (60), H females (HF) (45) and H males+females (HM+F) (74). The highest % of RR was for R+S in HM (28.33%), HF (31.11%) and HM+F (29.73%).

Conclusions. 1) The number of publications for the KWC differed; it was the largest for RR and R+S, smaller for R+F and R+E, and the smallest for R+A and R+C. 2) For all KWC, the number of FFT publications was reduced compared to the total number of publications, the number of A and FT, with a predominance of FFT for R+C as a percentage of NC. 3) Apart from RR and R+S, in which animal research predominated, for all the other chosen KWC, research on human subjects was preferred. 4) Apart from R+F, in which research on females predominated, for all the other chosen KWC, research on subjects of both genders was preferred.

Keywords: Rhodiola rosea, stress, cortisol, anxiety, physical fatigue, endurance, adaptogen, PubMed filters

https://doi.org/10.26659/pm3.2018.19.1.17

Rhodiola rosea’s relationship with stress, physical fatigue and endurance; a PubMed evaluation