[Bibliometric analysis of associations between ambient pollution and reproductive and developmental health]
1Institute of Medical Information & Library, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100020, China.
Objective:
This study aims to evaluate the characteristics and the popular themes in the field of air pollution and reproductive and developmental health with the bibliometric approach.
Method:
The articles from the year 1955 to 2013 in this field were retrieved by searching PubMed/MEDLINE using MeSH terms. The bibliographic information was analyzed to summarize the overall research characteristics. MeSH terms were sorted by their normalized frequency (NF) and classified into categories (air pollutants/components, reproductive and developmental outcomes and biological mechanisms) and then analyzed by regressive analysis to investigate the popular themes and their tendency.
Results:
All 2 315 papers are retrieved in this field, and 52.9% of the papers are published from the year 2004 to 2013. The 84.1% of the studies are conducted on the population, in which 10.9% are cohort studies. The researchers from USA conduct 28.0% of the studies. Only 2.3% of the studies are conducted by researchers from China. In the category of air pollutants/components, the high NF of MeSH terms, tobacco smoke pollutants, dust, carbon monoxide and heavy metals are 46.96%, 15.92%, 5.03% and 7.84% respectively. In the category of reproductive and developmental outcomes, the high NF of abortion, prenatal exposure delayed effects and pregnancy complications are 4.36%, 12.17% and 6.01%. In the category of biological mechanisms, the high NF of maternal-fetal exchange and DNA damage are 6.58% and 1.31%.
Conclusion:
Tobacco smoke pollutants, dust, carbon monoxide and heavy metals are the major concerns of air pollutants/components. Reproductive and developmental outcomes mainly focus on the abortion, prenatal exposure delayed effects and pregnancy complications. Maternal-fetal exchange and DNA damage are mostly concerned as the biological mechanisms.
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