ReviewGlobal health action
Health in climate change research from 1990 to 2014: positive trend, but still underperforming.
Review in Global health action. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Systematic Literature Review of the Impact of Climate Change on the Global Demand for Psychiatric Services.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Climate change adaptation in South Africa: a case study on the role of the health sector.Globalization and health · 2019Pooled it
- Changing Degrees: a weight-of-evidence scoping review examining the impact of childhood exposures to climate change on educational outcomes.Environmental research · 2025Article
- A bibliometric analysis with data OpenAlex and mining methods of 41 525 abstracts of papers on the health impact of air pollution published between 1960 and 2022.International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health · 2025Review
- Managing and mitigating future public health risks: Planetary boundaries, global catastrophic risk, and inclusive wealth.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2025Article
- Public health approaches to 'Leave No One Behind' in heatwave resilience: insights from the UK.European journal of public health · 2025Article
- Exploring the effects of climate change on child malnutrition: protocol for a scoping review.BMJ open · 2024Article
- A multi-dimensional Sustainable Diet Index (SDI) for Ghanaian adults under transition: the RODAM Study.Nutrition journal · 2024Article
- The future of climate health research: An urgent call for equitable action- and solution-oriented science.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2024Article
- Health journal coverage of climate change and health: a bibliometric study.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- The CHANGE (Climate Health ANalysis Grading Evaluation) tool for weight of evidence reviews on climate change and health research.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2024Article
- Published research on the human health implications of climate change between 2012 and 2021: cross sectional study.BMJ medicine · 2024Article
- The Contribution of Environmental Science to Mental Health Research: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Prioritising Climate Change Mitigation Behaviours and Exploring Public Health Co-Benefits: A Delphi Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Perceptions of the health impacts of climate change among Canadians.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Global outlook of the multiplier effect of research and development on environmental sustainability.PloS one · 2023Article
- Protecting human health in a time of climate change: how Cochrane should respond.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Article
- Empowering Veterinarians to Be Planetary Health Stewards Through Policy and Practice.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Climate change and health in North America: literature review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2021Article
- Climate Change and Infections on the Move in North America.Infection and drug resistance · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundClimate change has been recognized as both one of the biggest threats and the biggest opportunities for global health in the 21st century. This trend review seeks to assess and characterize the amount and type of scientific literature on the link between climate change and human health.
designWe tracked the use of climate-related terms and their co-occurrence with health terms during the 25 years since the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, from 1990 to 2014, in two scientific databases and in the IPCC reports. We investigated the trends in the number of publications about health and climate change through time, by nature of the health impact under study, and by geographic area. We compared the scientific production in the health field with that of other sectors on which climate change has an impact.
resultsThe number of publications was extremely low in both databases from 1990 (325 and 1,004, respectively) until around 2006 (1,332 and 4,319, respectively), which has since then increased exponentially in recent years (6,079 and 17,395, respectively, in 2014). However, the number of climate change papers regarding health is still about half that of other sectors. Certain health impacts, particularly malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), remain substantially understudied. Approximately two-thirds of all published studies were carried out in OECD countries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), predominantly in Europe and North America.
conclusionsThere is a clear need for further research on the links between climate change and health. This pertains particularly to research in and by those countries in which health will be mostly affected and capacity to adapt is least. Specific undertreated topics such as NCDs, malnutrition, and mental health should gain the priority they deserve. Funding agencies are invited to take note of and establish calls for proposals accordingly. Raising the interest in this research area in young scientists remains a challenge and should lead to innovative courses for large audiences, such as Massive Open Online Courses.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.