The association between unconventional gas development and preterm birth: evaluating drilling phases and critical windows of susceptibility.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Marshall A ; Symanski, Elaine ; Whitworth K
• Description:
  Purpose: No studies of unconventional gas development (UGD) and preterm birth (PTB) have considered timing of UGD-activity during potentially sensitive windows of exposure nor potential differences in risk by UGD drilling phase. Methods: We conducted a case-control study nested within the cohort of women with singleton births in the expansive 24-county Barnett Shale area in North Texas, between November 30, 2010-November 29, 2012. All PTB cases during this period were included (n=13,328). We selected five controls per case, individually-matched on age and race/ethnicity. We truncated each control's time-at-risk according to the gestational age achieved by the matched case. We explored two UGD-activity metrics: 1) inverse distance-weighted (IDW) sum of wells in the completion phase ≤½ mile of the maternal residence at birth; and 2) IDW sum of gas produced ≤½ mile of the residence. Metrics were categorized as: zero wells ≤½ mile (ref), 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tertiles of UGD-activity. We considered both trimester- and gestation-specific UGD-activity. Conditional logistic regression was used to examine associations. Results: We found similarly increased odds of PTB in the 3rd tertiles of the UGD completion- [odds ratio (OR) 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.35] and production- (1.15, 1.04-1.26) metrics for total gestation. Increased odds or PTB were observed in the 3rd tertiles of the UGD completion-metric for trimesters one (1.18, 1.01-1.38) and two (1.18, 1.01-1.39), but not trimester three. Increased odds of PTB were associated with production in all three trimesters, though the magnitude of the association was slightly attenuated in the 3rd trimester (3rd tertile OR's: trimester one 1.18, 1.07-1.30; trimester two 1.17, 1.06-1.29; trimester three 1.12, 1.01-1.23). Conclusion: Our results suggest an association between maternal residential proximity to UGD-activity and PTB. Though associations were similar by drilling phase, they were slightly stronger in the first two trimesters of pregnancy. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Exposure Occupational Health Oil And Gas Industry Pregnancy Safety Urogenital System
• Keywords:
  Pregnancy; Prenatal exposure; Gas industry; Drilling; Environmental exposure; Nested case control studies; Reproductive effects
• ISSN:
  1047-2797
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  530
• Volume:
  27
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065178
• Citation:
  Ann Epidemiol 2017 Aug; 27(8):530
• Contact Point Address:
  Amanda Marshall, UTHealth SPH San Antonio, 7411 John Smith Dr, Suite 1100, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b1185b602caf6d3f6cfbcd60aeb2df690e175b0ffb91e5f5e3e66f13b1e13cf58b1c5a3b3a4afab19df752525e2ae9737113af61a2a00b84dd946085e3abb416
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/249361/cdc_249361_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 131.92 KB ]