To analyze the current status and the issues of alexithymia′s nursing in China to provide references for further research in this area.

CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, CBM, PubMed and CINAHL databases were screened for published papers on alexithymia′s nursing in China from their inauguration to 30th September 2016. Bibliometric data were extracted and analyzed using metrological analysis.

A total of 84 papers were included. The first paper was published in 2001. The amount of the literature increased annually after 2009. Papers were mainly from the central and eastern regions and lack of foundation. The major papers were descriptive studies and accounted for 59.52%. The main topic was investigation of correlations between alexithymia and psychosomatic symptoms and symptoms of disease, which accounted for 48.84%. Subjects in the study were mainly patients with chronic diseases with a rate of 23.81%. In 23 included clinical trials, alexithymia′s nursing was mainly performed in forms of group psychological counseling with a rate of 26.09%. The less common form was realization social support which accounted for 17.39%. The evaluation parameters contained 78.26% of functional indexes of patients and 21.74% of clinical outcome indicators.

The published papers are in small amount and with low quality. It is necessary to expand the studies on the specialized diseases and establish multi-dimension nursing model based on the combination of nursing theory and clinical practice.

Bibliometrics; Nursing care; Alexithymia