Invited Perspective: Oil and Gas Development and Adverse Birth Outcomes: What More Do We Need to Know?

Deziel, Nicole C.

doi:10.1289/ehp9715

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The magnitude of the association was greatest among those children living within

of UOGD and exposed during the perinatal period. This research adds to a growing body of work documenting adverse health effects associated with UOGD, particularly among children, 36 , 109 , 110 and provides additional support for more stringent setback policies and other public health measures to reduce exposures to UOGD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…This work adds to a growing body of literature on UOGD exposure and women’s and children’s health used to inform policy, such as setback distances (the required minimum distance between a private residence or other sensitive location and a UOG well). 109 , 110 Current setback distances in the United States are the subject of much debate, 111 , 112 with some calling for setback distances to be lengthened to more than

(1,000 ft) 113 , 114 and as far as

(3,281 ft). 115 The current setback distance in Pennsylvania is

(500 ft), extended from

(200 ft) in 2012.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Unconventional Oil and Gas Development Exposure and Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Case–Control Study in Pennsylvania, 2009–2017

Clark

Johnson

Soriano

et al. 2022

Environ Health Perspect

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Background: Unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) releases chemicals that have been linked to cancer and childhood leukemia. Studies of UOGD exposure and childhood leukemia are extremely limited. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate potential associations between residential proximity to UOGD and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood leukemia, in a large regional sample using UOGD-specific metrics, including a novel metric to represent the water pathway. Methods: We conducted a registry-based case–control study of 405 children ages 2–7 y diagnosed with ALL in Pennsylvania between 2009–2017, and 2,080 controls matched on birth year. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between residential proximity to UOGD (including a new water pathway-specific proximity metric) and ALL in two exposure windows: a primary window (3 months preconception to 1 y prior to diagnosis/reference date) and a perinatal window (preconception to birth). Results: Children with at least one UOG well within of their birth residence during the primary window had 1.98 times the odds of developing ALL in comparison with those with no UOG wells [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 3.69]. Children with at least one vs. no UOG wells within during the perinatal window had 2.80 times the odds of developing ALL (95% CI: 1.11, 7.05). These relationships were slightly attenuated after adjusting for maternal race and socio-economic status [odds ratio (OR) (95% CI: 0.93, 3.27) and (95% CI: 0.93, 5.95)], respectively). The ORs produced by models using the water pathway-specific metric were similar in magnitude to the aggregate metric. Discussion: Our study including a novel UOGD metric found UOGD to be a risk factor for childhood ALL. This work adds to mounting evidence of UOGD’s impacts on children’s health, providing additional support for limiting UOGD near residences. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11092

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“…The magnitude of the association was greatest among those children living within

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

(1,000 ft) 113 , 114 and as far as

(3,281 ft). 115 The current setback distance in Pennsylvania is

(500 ft), extended from

(200 ft) in 2012.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unconventional Oil and Gas Development Exposure and Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Case–Control Study in Pennsylvania, 2009–2017

Clark

Johnson

Soriano

et al. 2022

Environ Health Perspect

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“…Similar to the investigation of oil and gas drilling infrastructure and adverse birth outcomes, [78][79][80] proximity may serve as a surrogate for an aggregated "myriad of physical, chemical, and social stressors" that are often too complex to fully and easily characterize. 78 Because the DiD approach holds the distances constant, these factors only cause concern if time-varying. However, the assigned distance buffers for the CFPP-scrubber and CFPP-retired cohorts are likely differentially influenced by these factors at the plant level, which could mean we did not optimize the distance buffers for plant-specific factors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sulfur dioxide reduction at coal-fired power plants in North Carolina and associations with preterm birth among surrounding residents

Wilkie

Richardson

Luben

et al. 2023

Environmental Epidemiology

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Exposure data is publicly available from the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Markets Program Data (AMPD). Births data has identifiable information so is not available unless formally requested from Birth Defects Monitoring Program within the State Center for Health Statistics of the North Carolina Department of Health and HumanServices. An archive of US EPA AMPD data used for exposure assignment as well as code written for analyses will be available here: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/ epa-sciencehub.

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“…Proximity-based spatial surrogates do not allow for identification of etiologic agents underlying observed associations [ 86 ]. Additionally, the effects of processes affecting chemical fate and transport, such as advection, dispersion, and transformation reactions that alter contaminant toxicity, are unlikely to be approximated by simple spatial metrics.…”

Section: Aggregate Proximity-based Models and Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Exposure to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development: Strengths, Challenges, and Implications for Epidemiologic Research

Deziel¹,

Clark²,

Casey

et al. 2022

Curr Envir Health Rpt

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Purpose of Review Epidemiologic studies have observed elevated health risks in populations living near unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD). In this narrative review, we discuss strengths and limitations of UOG exposure assessment approaches used in or available for epidemiologic studies, emphasizing studies of children’s health outcomes. Recent Findings Exposure assessment challenges include (1) numerous potential stressors with distinct spatiotemporal patterns, (2) critical exposure windows that cover long periods and occur in the past, and (3) limited existing monitoring data coupled with the resource-intensiveness of collecting new exposure measurements to capture spatiotemporal variation. All epidemiologic studies used proximity-based models for exposure assessment as opposed to surveys, biomonitoring, or environmental measurements. Nearly all studies used aggregate (rather than pathway-specific) models, which are useful surrogates for the complex mix of potential hazards. Summary Simple and less-specific exposure assessment approaches have benefits in terms of scalability, interpretability, and relevance to specific policy initiatives such as set-back distances. More detailed and specific models and metrics, including dispersion methods and stressor-specific models, could reduce exposure misclassification, illuminate underlying exposure pathways, and inform emission control and exposure mitigation strategies. While less practical in a large population, collection of multi-media environmental and biological exposure measurements would be feasible in cohort subsets. Such assessments are well-suited to provide insights into the presence and magnitude of exposures to UOG-related stressors in relation to spatial surrogates and to better elucidate the plausibility of observed effects in both children and adults.

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Invited Perspective: Oil and Gas Development and Adverse Birth Outcomes: What More Do We Need to Know?

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

Unconventional Oil and Gas Development Exposure and Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Case–Control Study in Pennsylvania, 2009–2017

Unconventional Oil and Gas Development Exposure and Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Case–Control Study in Pennsylvania, 2009–2017

Sulfur dioxide reduction at coal-fired power plants in North Carolina and associations with preterm birth among surrounding residents

Assessing Exposure to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development: Strengths, Challenges, and Implications for Epidemiologic Research

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