Research trends in health education within early childhood education: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose Early childhood is a key stage for acquiring healthy habits and the socio-emotional skills linked to well-being. This study aimed to analyze the evolution, structure, and thematic dynamics of research on health education (HE) in early childhood education. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis was conducted of 339 articles on HE in early childhood education indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (2010 to February 2025). Annual publication and citation counts were obtained from the Web of Science Citation Report; Bibliometrix was used to analyze journals, authors, countries, citations and keyword trends; and VOSviewer was used to map keyword co-occurrence networks. Findings The number of articles increased from 89 in 2010–2019 to 240 in 2020–2024; the 2025 data cover only January and February. Production was concentrated in a small group of early childhood journals and in English-speaking countries, particularly the United States of America, Australia and Canada. The keyword co-occurrence analysis identified four interconnected clusters: quality of care, educator well-being and mental health; programs, interventions and their outcomes; children's health, physical activity and play; and perceptions and attitudes of the educational community. Terms related to stress, mental health and educators were associated with the most recent articles. Originality/value The study provides an overview of research on HE in early childhood education that complements previous systematic reviews. It identifies the main research topics and the concentration of research in a few journals and English-speaking countries, which may help to guide future primary studies and reviews in other contexts.