ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2015
Proximity to natural gas wells and reported health status: results of a household survey in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 171 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of the Epidemiologic Literature Assessing Health Outcomes in Populations Living near Oil and Natural Gas Operations: Study Quality and Future Recommendations.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Exploring the endocrine activity of air pollutants associated with unconventional oil and gas extraction.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2018Pooled it
- Systematic review of the association between oil and natural gas extraction processes and human reproduction.Fertility and sterility · 2016Pooled it
- The Fire That Does Not Go Out: The Neglected Costs of Gas Flaring in Nigeria.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Monitoring and Modeling Population Exposures to Air Pollutants from Oil and Gas Development: Part 1. Predictive, Source-Oriented Modeling and Measurements to Evaluate Community Exposures to Air Pollutants and Noise from Unconventional Oil and Gas Development.Research report (Health Effects Institute) · 2026Article
- Cumulative Human Health Risk Assessment of Regional Ozone and Volatile Organic Compounds from Unconventional Oil and Gas Sites in Colorado's Front Range.Environmental health perspectives · 2025Article
- Sociodemographic and Population Exposure to Upstream Oil and Gas Operations in Canada.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Sense of Place and Perceived Impacts in the Rural Industrialized Nexus: Insights for Sustainability Pathways.Environmental management · 2024Article
- The human health effects of unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD): A scoping review of epidemiologic studies.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2024Article
- Social and Environmental Stressors of Urban Oil and Gas Facilities in Los Angeles County, California, 2020.American journal of public health · 2023Article
- Health Symptoms and Proximity to Active Multi-Well Unconventional Oil and Gas Development Sites in the City and County of Broomfield, Colorado.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Metal Exposures in Residents Living Near an Urban Oil Drilling Site in Los Angeles, California.Environmental science & technology · 2022Article
- The association of unconventional natural gas development with diagnosis and treatment of internalizing disorders among adolescents in Pennsylvania using electronic health records.Environmental research · 2022Article
- Small, Local Governments and Their Management of Hydraulic Fracturing.Environmental management · 2022Article
- Exposure to a mixture of 23 chemicals associated with unconventional oil and gas operations alters immune response to challenge in adult mice.Journal of immunotoxicology · 2021Article
- Changes in neighborhood air quality after idling of an urban oil production site.Environmental science. Processes & impacts · 2021Article
- Respiratory health, pulmonary function and local engagement in urban communities near oil development.Environmental research · 2021Article
- Chronic disaster impact: the long-term psychological and physical health consequences of housing damage due to induced earthquakes.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Urinary carboxylic acid metabolites as possible novel biomarkers of exposures to alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.Environment international · 2021Article
- Endocrine disrupting activities and geochemistry of water resources associated with unconventional oil and gas activity.The Science of the total environment · 2020Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about the environmental and public health impact of unconventional natural gas extraction activities, including hydraulic fracturing, that occur near residential areas.
objectivesOur aim was to assess the relationship between household proximity to natural gas wells and reported health symptoms.
methodsWe 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.
resultsThe 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.
conclusionAlthough 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.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.