Background: Little is known about the environmental and public health impact of unconventional natural gas extraction activities, including hydraulic fracturing, that occur near residential areas.
Objectives: Our aim was to assess the relationship between household proximity to natural gas wells and reported health symptoms. Methods: We conducted a hypothesis-generating health symptom survey of 492 persons in 180 randomly selected households with ground-fed wells in an area of active natural gas drilling. Gas well proximity for each household was compared with the prevalence and frequency of reported dermal, respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and neurological symptoms.
Results: The number of reported health symptoms per person was higher among residents living < 1 km (mean ± SD, 3.27 ± 3.72) compared with > 2 km from the nearest gas well (mean ± SD, 1.60 ± 2.14; p = 0.0002). In a model that adjusted for age, sex, household education, smoking, awareness of environmental risk, work type, and animals in house, reported skin conditions were more common in households < 1 km compared with > 2 km from the nearest gas well (odds ratio = 4.1; 95% CI: 1.4, 12.3; p = 0.01). Upper respiratory symptoms were also more frequently reported in persons living in households < 1 km from gas wells (39%) compared with households 1–2 km or > 2 km from the nearest well (31 and 18%, respectively) (p = 0.004). No equivalent correlation was found between well proximity and other reported groups of respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular, or gastrointestinal conditions.
Conclusion: Although these results should be viewed as hypothesis generating, and the population studied was limited to households with a ground-fed water supply, proximity of natural gas wells may be associated with the prevalence of health symptoms including dermal and respiratory conditions in residents living near natural gas extraction activities. Further study of these associations, including the role of specific air and water exposures, is warranted
Citation:
Rabinowitz PM, Slizovskiy IB, Lamers V, Trufan SJ, Holford TR, Dziura JD, Peduzzi PN, Kane MJ, Reif JS, Weiss TR, Stowe MH. 2015. Proximity to natural gas wells and reported health status: results of a household survey in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Environ Health Perspect 123:21–26; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307732
Where do the authors work, and what are their areas of expertise? Note any other publications by the authors with relevance to the 6Cities project.
Peter M. Rabinowitz: Yale University School of Medicine, University of Washington
Expertise: Environmental and Occupational Health, global health, allergy and infectious disease
Work: (not relevant at the city level, but the global level)
"explores linkages between human, animal, and environmental health in a "One Health" paradigm, including: Zoonotic infectious diseases at the human-animal interface, animals as "sentinels" of environmental health hazards, and clinical collaboration between human health care providers and veterinarians in a species-spanning approach
What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report?
Close living proximity to fracking locations could potentially cause health problems.
The most likely areas afflicted by the natural gas drilling atmosphere are the skin and upper respiratory system.
Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported.
Statistical data formed by the random-sample survey collection
Reference to similar results
"There are published reports of associations between the prevalence of eczema and other skin conditions with exposure to drinking water polluted with chemicals including VOCs (Chaumont et al. 2012; Lampi et al. 2000; Yorifuji et al. 2012)"
"A second possible explanation for the skin symptoms could be exposure to air pollutants including VOCs, particulates, and ozone from upwind sources, such as flaring of gas wells (McKenzie et al. 2012) and exhaust from vehicles and heavy machinery"
Large amount of randomized data
"the largest study to date of the association of reported symptoms and natural gas drilling activities"
What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report?
"The drilling and completion of natural gas wells, as well as the storage of waste fluids in containment ponds, may release chemicals into the atmosphere through evaporation and off-gassing".
"We found an increased frequency of reported symptoms over the past year in households in closer proximity to active gas wells compared with households farther from gas wells".
"This association persisted even after adjusting for age, sex, smokers in household, presence of animals in the household, education level, work type, and awareness of environmental risks".
This relationship was relevant for only dermal and upper respiratory conditions, not cardiac, neurological, or gastrointestinal.
"The results of this study suggest that natural gas drilling activities could be associated with increased reports of dermal and upper respiratory symptoms in nearby communities"
What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report?
Area chosen for study: Washington County, PA
624 natural gas wells currently in use
Didn't include areas near Pittsburgh or bordering the state because they have different water sources and perhaps different environmental conditions affecting them.
Surveying: Done in 2012
Asked about health status for the past year, touching on all organ systems that previous studies have claimed were victims of fracking harm.
Asked general concern questions about the resident's happiness with the air quality, water quality, and other environmental conditions for the community.
No mention of hydraulic fracturing.
"pretested with focus groups in the study area in collaboration with a community based group and revised to ensure comprehensibility of questions"
The person delivering the survey mapped the GPS coordinates of the house but was unaware of the purpose of the study, to avoid bias.
For each 38 towns in the county, chose 20 random points (houses) to survey.
points were eliminated if no residents, if not using a ground fed well (would reveal potential water contamination), if they refused to participate.
180 households participated and reported on the health status of the 492 people living there.
Proximity to gas wells
Gas well permit data online revealed the location of each gas well.
ArcGIS found distance between houses and wells
categorized by: < 1 km, 1–2 km, or > 2 km
Age of well found (2012-time when drilling began)
Analysis:
Demographic characteristics analyzed
"To test the association between household distance from a well and the overall number of symptoms as well as the presence or absence of each of six groups of health conditions (dermal, upper respiratory, lower respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, and cardiovascular), we used SAS 9.3 in a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) analysis (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC)".
model adjusted for age, sex, adult education, smoking status, environmental awareness, pets, and job.
How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
The model used to find the statistical relationship between health problems and distance from wells was modified for age, sex, adult education, smoking status, environmental awareness, pets, and job.
Where has this article or report been referenced or discussed? (In some journals, you can see this in a sidebar.)
Analyzes 3 new fracking reports, discusses the lack of conclusions made on the health effects of fracking, inconclusive so far.
Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced?
Most resources in the bibliography are details about the fracking process or other journals studying the effects of fracking on human welfare.
Sources include census of agriculture and census of occupational classification.
What three points, details or references from the text did you follow up on to advance your understanding of how air pollution science has been produced and used in governance and education in different settings?
Read articles citing this study, to see reactions to the results.
- Abstract:
Background: Little is known about the environmental and public health impact of unconventional natural gas extraction activities, including hydraulic fracturing, that occur near residential areas.Objectives: Our aim was to assess the relationship between household proximity to natural gas wells and reported health symptoms. Methods: We conducted a hypothesis-generating health symptom survey of 492 persons in 180 randomly selected households with ground-fed wells in an area of active natural gas drilling. Gas well proximity for each household was compared with the prevalence and frequency of reported dermal, respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and neurological symptoms.
Results: The number of reported health symptoms per person was higher among residents living < 1 km (mean ± SD, 3.27 ± 3.72) compared with > 2 km from the nearest gas well (mean ± SD, 1.60 ± 2.14; p = 0.0002). In a model that adjusted for age, sex, household education, smoking, awareness of environmental risk, work type, and animals in house, reported skin conditions were more common in households < 1 km compared with > 2 km from the nearest gas well (odds ratio = 4.1; 95% CI: 1.4, 12.3; p = 0.01). Upper respiratory symptoms were also more frequently reported in persons living in households < 1 km from gas wells (39%) compared with households 1–2 km or > 2 km from the nearest well (31 and 18%, respectively) (p = 0.004). No equivalent correlation was found between well proximity and other reported groups of respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular, or gastrointestinal conditions.
Conclusion: Although these results should be viewed as hypothesis generating, and the population studied was limited to households with a ground-fed water supply, proximity of natural gas wells may be associated with the prevalence of health symptoms including dermal and respiratory conditions in residents living near natural gas extraction activities. Further study of these associations, including the role of specific air and water exposures, is warranted
- Citation:
Rabinowitz PM, Slizovskiy IB, Lamers V, Trufan SJ, Holford TR, Dziura JD, Peduzzi PN, Kane MJ, Reif JS, Weiss TR, Stowe MH. 2015. Proximity to natural gas wells and reported health status: results of a household survey in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Environ Health Perspect 123:21–26; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307732Where do the authors work, and what are their areas of expertise? Note any other publications by the authors with relevance to the 6Cities project.
- Peter M. Rabinowitz: Yale University School of Medicine, University of Washington
- Expertise: Environmental and Occupational Health, global health, allergy and infectious disease
- Work: (not relevant at the city level, but the global level)
- Center for One Health Research
- Publication: Toward Proof of Concept of a One Health Approach to Disease Prediction and Control
- "explores linkages between human, animal, and environmental health in a "One Health" paradigm, including: Zoonotic infectious diseases at the human-animal interface, animals as "sentinels" of environmental health hazards, and clinical collaboration between human health care providers and veterinarians in a species-spanning approach
- Canary Database: Animals as Sentinels of Human Environmental Health Hazards
- Ilya B. Slizovskiy: Yale University School of Medicine, Yale School of Public Health
- Reported health conditions in animals residing near natural gas wells in southwestern Pennsylvania
- Vanessa Lamers:Yale School of Public Health, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Sciences
- Environmental health & communications consulting
- Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Anesthetic Drugs
- Sally J. Trufan: Yale University School of Medicine, University of Washington
- Theodore R. Holford: Yale School of Public Health
- Biostatistics
- Association of low-level ozone and fine particles with respiratory symptoms in children with asthma
- Symptoms and medication use in children with asthma and traffic-related sources of fine particle pollution
- James D. Dziura: Yale School of Public Health
- Peter N. Peduzzi: Yale School of Public Health
- Michael J. Kane:Yale School of Public Health
- John S. Reif: Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
- Theresa R. Weiss: Yale University School of Medicine
- Meredith H. Stowe: Yale University School of Medicine
- Isocyanate Exposures in Autobody Shop Work: The SPRAY Study
What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report?- Close living proximity to fracking locations could potentially cause health problems.
- The most likely areas afflicted by the natural gas drilling atmosphere are the skin and upper respiratory system.
Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported.- Statistical data formed by the random-sample survey collection
- Reference to similar results
- "There are published reports of associations between the prevalence of eczema and other skin conditions with exposure to drinking water polluted with chemicals including VOCs (Chaumont et al. 2012; Lampi et al. 2000; Yorifuji et al. 2012)"
- "A second possible explanation for the skin symptoms could be exposure to air pollutants including VOCs, particulates, and ozone from upwind sources, such as flaring of gas wells (McKenzie et al. 2012) and exhaust from vehicles and heavy machinery"
- Large amount of randomized data
- "the largest study to date of the association of reported symptoms and natural gas drilling activities"
What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report?- "The drilling and completion of natural gas wells, as well as the storage of waste fluids in containment ponds, may release chemicals into the atmosphere through evaporation and off-gassing".
- "We found an increased frequency of reported symptoms over the past year in households in closer proximity to active gas wells compared with households farther from gas wells".
- "This association persisted even after adjusting for age, sex, smokers in household, presence of animals in the household, education level, work type, and awareness of environmental risks".
- This relationship was relevant for only dermal and upper respiratory conditions, not cardiac, neurological, or gastrointestinal.
- "The results of this study suggest that natural gas drilling activities could be associated with increased reports of dermal and upper respiratory symptoms in nearby communities"
What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report?- Area chosen for study: Washington County, PA
- 624 natural gas wells currently in use
- Didn't include areas near Pittsburgh or bordering the state because they have different water sources and perhaps different environmental conditions affecting them.
- Surveying: Done in 2012
- Asked about health status for the past year, touching on all organ systems that previous studies have claimed were victims of fracking harm.
- Asked general concern questions about the resident's happiness with the air quality, water quality, and other environmental conditions for the community.
- No mention of hydraulic fracturing.
- "pretested with focus groups in the study area in collaboration with a community based group and revised to ensure comprehensibility of questions"
- The person delivering the survey mapped the GPS coordinates of the house but was unaware of the purpose of the study, to avoid bias.
- For each 38 towns in the county, chose 20 random points (houses) to survey.
- points were eliminated if no residents, if not using a ground fed well (would reveal potential water contamination), if they refused to participate.
- 180 households participated and reported on the health status of the 492 people living there.
- Proximity to gas wells
- Gas well permit data online revealed the location of each gas well.
- ArcGIS found distance between houses and wells
- categorized by: < 1 km, 1–2 km, or > 2 km
- Age of well found (2012-time when drilling began)
- Analysis:
- Demographic characteristics analyzed
- "To test the association between household distance from a well and the overall number of symptoms as well as the presence or absence of each of six groups of health conditions (dermal, upper respiratory, lower respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, and cardiovascular), we used SAS 9.3 in a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) analysis (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC)".
- model adjusted for age, sex, adult education, smoking status, environmental awareness, pets, and job.
How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?- The model used to find the statistical relationship between health problems and distance from wells was modified for age, sex, adult education, smoking status, environmental awareness, pets, and job.
Where has this article or report been referenced or discussed? (In some journals, you can see this in a sidebar.)- Journals referencing the data:
- Unconventional Gas and Oil Drilling Is Associated with Increased Hospital Utilization Rates.
- Impact of natural gas extraction on PAH levels in ambient air.
- News articles referencing the data:
- "Marcellus Drilling News"
- Mock this report, says it's results are unimportant (super biased, defensive because the study provided bad publicity for fracking).
- Research for Hire: Anti Groups Sponsor Latest Yale Frack “Study”
- "Law 360"
- Roundup Of Fracking Studies Still Shows No Consensus
- Analyzes 3 new fracking reports, discusses the lack of conclusions made on the health effects of fracking, inconclusive so far.
Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced?- Most resources in the bibliography are details about the fracking process or other journals studying the effects of fracking on human welfare.
- Sources include census of agriculture and census of occupational classification.
What three points, details or references from the text did you follow up on to advance your understanding of how air pollution science has been produced and used in governance and education in different settings?