On October 8, 2015, the
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health published a study
in the Journal of Epidemiology entitled “Unconventional Natural Gas Development
and Birth Outcomes in Pennsylvania, USA.” This study examines the risk of
premature birth in areas of central and northeastern Pennsylvania with active
hydraulically fractured shale wells.
The researchers used
the Geisinger Health System record data to evaluate the number of preterm births between January 2009 and January 2013 and performed a retrospective cohort
study linking the record data to estimates of exposure to active shale wells during
the period of gestation.
For this purpose, the
researchers created an estimated activity index system that included
information about well drilling dates, production volumes as well as well
stimulation dates and drilling depth during the gestation.
They concluded that “there
was an association between unconventional natural gas development activity and
preterm birth that increased across [the phases of well development]” while
“[t]here were no associations of activity with Apgar score, small for
gestational age birth, or term birth weight.”
Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
10/13/2015
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