Air pollution and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-related health outcomes: a bibliometric and visualization analysis.

BACKGROUND: Air pollution is a critical environmental risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although numerous studies have focused on investigating this aspect, a comprehensive bibliometric overview of the global research landscape, hotspots, and emerging trends remains lacking. This bibliometric analysis aimed to examine the status, hotspots, and frontiers of research on the effect of air pollution on COPD-related health outcomes to inform COPD prevention and management. METHODS: Literature was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (1964 to May 31, 2025), yielding 11,167 articles and reviews. Country/institution collaboration, journal co-citation, keyword clustering, and burst detection analyses were conducted using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and the bibliometrix package in R. RESULTS: The number of publications increased rapidly after 1990, with Chest, European Respiratory Journal, and American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine identified as key journals and Celli BR, Vestbo J, and Jones PW identified as prominent authors. The USA, China, and the UK led in terms of output, with Harvard University constituting the most influential institution. High-impact studies have focused on COPD attributable disease burden from air pollution (globally and in China), exposure-response mechanisms, pollution-sensitive disease risks, and indoor biomass fuel pollution. The most frequent keywords were COPD, mortality, risk, air pollution, and prevalence, with China and climate change (both emerging in 2021) serving as current frontiers. CONCLUSIONS: The bibliometric analysis results revealed that the relationship between air pollution and COPD-related health outcomes is an active research area, with major themes including disease burden, mortality, hospitalization, household air pollution, oxidative stress, and climate change.