Daniel Smith
Anthropogenic global warming, when combined with social and other environmental factors, poses a significant health threat. This work presents a comprehensive evaluation of the literature from 1989 to 2013 (inclusive), which covers the first 25 years of publication of this topic in scholarly publications. It looks at how many articles have indicated potentially catastrophic, civilization-threatening health hazards linked to climate change. 1546 (72%) of the 2143 papers examined were given a score of one. Their citations accounted for 82 percent of the total (165,133). The proportion of annual publications with a score of three was initially high, as were their citations, but by 1996, it had dropped to practically zero, before marginally increasing in 2006. Increased awareness of the importance of climate change on global health has resulted in a massive development of the literature. However, there was a general lack of awareness of the most serious, existential health concerns posed by climate change. Despite the fact that scientific discoveries have long advocated for increased interdisciplinary collaboration, most studies instead concentrated on infectious diseases, direct heat effects, and other disciplinary-bounded phenomena and consequences.