Maternal Residential Proximity to Unconventional Gas Development and Perinatal Outcomes Among a Diverse Urban Population in Texas

Details

• Personal Author:
  Marshall AK ; Symanski, Elaine ; Whitworth KW
• Description:
  Objective: To assess associations between unconventional natural gas development (UGD) and perinatal outcomes. Methods: We conducted a retrospective birth cohort study among 158,894 women with a birth or fetal death from November 30, 2010-November 29, 2012 in the Barnett Shale, in North Texas. We constructed three UGD-activity metrics by calculating the inverse distance-weighted sum of active wells within three separate geographic buffers surrounding the maternal residence: ≤ 1/2, 2, or 10-miles. We excluded women if the nearest well to her residence was >20 miles. Metrics were categorized by tertiles among women with >/- 1 well within the respective buffer; women with zero wells ≤ 10 miles (the largest buffer) served as a common referent group. We used logistic or linear regression with generalized estimating equations to assess associations between UGD-activity and preterm birth, small-for-gestational age (SGA), fetal death, or birthweight. Adjusted models of fetal death and birthweight included: maternal age, race/ethnicity, education, pre-pregnancy body mass index, parity, smoking, adequacy of prenatal care, previous poor pregnancy outcome, and infant sex. Preterm birth models included all of the above except parity; SGA models included all of the above except previous poor pregnancy outcome. Results: We found increased adjusted odds of preterm birth associated with UGD-activity in the highest tertiles of the 1/2- (odds ratio (OR) = 1.14; 95% confidence interval 1.03, 1.25), 2- (1.14; 1.07, 1.22), and 10-mile (1.15; 1.08, 1.22) metrics. Increased adjusted odds of fetal death were found in the second tertile of the 2-mile metric (1.56; 1.16, 2.11) and the highest tertile of the 10-mile metric (1.34; 1.04-1.72). We found little indication of an association with SGA or term birthweight. Conclusions: Our results are suggestive of an association between maternal residential proximity to UGD-activity and preterm birth and fetal death. Quantifying chemical and non-chemical stressors among residents near UGD should be prioritized. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Community Health Services Environment Environmental Exposure Fetus Mortality Occupational Health Oil And Gas Industry Pregnancy Safety Urogenital System Women

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• Keywords:
  Birth Defects Community Based Community Health Drilling Environmental Exposure Environmental Factors Exposure Assessment Fracking Gas Industry Hydraulic Fracturing Mathematical Models Mortality Data Mortality Rates Mortality Studies Natural Gas Prenatal Exposure Regression Analysis Reproductive Hazards

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• ISSN:
  1932-6203
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  12
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20052681
• Citation:
  PLoS One 2017 Jul; 12(7):e0180966
• Contact Point Address:
  Kristina W. Whitworth, Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
• Email:
  Kristina.W.Whitworth@uth.tmc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  PLoS One
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8cd2cec4bb34903144477b0bc97e786cabee3b6b66e6cc715a41ce422046c28c19ff1699d729b48ba6bd5f36b9425c69a376951014937dbce0ae9e2d23a7f6c1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/212180/cdc_212180_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.25 MB ]