MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Reynold A. Panettieri, Jr., M.D.
Robert L. Mayock and David A. Cooper Professor of Medicine
Pulmonary, Allergy & Critical Care Division
Director, Airways Biology Initiative
Deputy Director, Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology
Adjunct Professor, Wistar Institute
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3413
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Panettieri: Over the past ten years in the US, unconventional gas and oil drilling (hydraulic fracturing) to generate natural gas has markedly increased. In areas with hydraulic fracturing, there is a large increase in truck traffic, noise and potential air and water pollution. Accordingly, residents may experience health consequences from such exposures. We questioned whether proximity to active wells increases hospitalization rates in residents. To address this question, we reviewed all hospitalizations in two counties in Pennsylvania, namely, Bradford and Susquehanna Counties, that experienced a meteoric increase in active wells. In comparison, Wayne County, where there is a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, is demographically identical to Bradford and Susquehanna Counties and served as a control population. Having examined the 25 most common reasons for admission to the hospital, we determined that cardiovascular hospitalizations as well as neurologic, dermatologic and cancer hospitalizations were associated with living closer to active wells. These data represent some of the first studies to associate active well drilling with hospitalizations in the United States.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Joan A. Casey, PhD, MA
Health and Society Scholar
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
UC San Francisco/UC Berkeley
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Casey: Eighteen percent of global gas production now comes from unconventional sources. Pennsylvania, in particular, has seen huge increases in unconventional natural gas development (i.e., "fracking") over the past decade. In 2006, there were fewer than 100 unconventional wells, by 2013, there were over 7,000. Developing a single unconventional well takes hundreds to thousands of diesel truck trips to bring in materials, millions of gallons of water mixed with chemicals and sand, and hydraulic fracturing and production, which can release air pollutants and create noise and other community disturbances. We evaluated whether exposure to unconventional natural gas development activity in Pennsylvania was associated with adverse birth outcomes in those living nearby. Mothers who lived near active natural gas wells operated by the fracking industry in Pennsylvania were at an increased risk for preterm birth and for having a high-risk pregnancy.