Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29578659›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2018

Drilling and Production Activity Related to Unconventional Gas Development and Severity of Preterm Birth.

Kristina Walker Whitworth, Amanda Kaye Marshall, Elaine Symanski

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
39citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

39 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Article
  5. Exposures from Oil and Gas Development and Childhood Leukemia Risk in Colorado: A Population-Based Case-Control Study.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025
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  12. 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 · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Kristina Walker WhitworthDepartment of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Amanda Kaye MarshallDepartment of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Elaine SymanskiSouthwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, UTHealth School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA

Funding

Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental HealthT42OH008421 · OH · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · PI FELKNOR, SARAH A. · 2005 to 2024
$24.1M
Maternal Residential Proximity to Shale Gas Extraction and Pregnancy OutcomesR03ES023954 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · PI WHITWORTH, KRISTINA WALKER · 2014 to 2015
$152k
ACL HHS T42OH008421NIEHS NIH HHS R03 ES023954NIOSH CDC HHS T42 OH008421
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundStudies of unconventional gas development (UGD) and preterm birth (PTB) have not presented risk estimates by well development phase or trimester.

objectiveWe examined phase and trimester-specific associations between UGD activity and PTB.

methodsWe conducted a case-control study of women with singleton births in the Barnett Shale area, Texas, from 30 November 2010 to 29 November 2012. We individually age- and race/ethnicity-matched five controls to each PTB case (

resultsWe found increased odds of PTB in the third tertile of the UGD drilling {odds ratio (OR)=1.20 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.37]} and UGD-production [OR=1.15 (1.05, 1.26)] metrics. Among women in the third tertile of UGD-production, associations were strongest in trimesters one [OR=1.18 (1.02, 1.37)] and two [OR=1.14 (0.99, 1.31). The greatest risk was observed for extremely PTB [third tertile ORs: UGD drilling, 2.00 (1.23, 3.24); UGD production, 1.53 (1.03-2.27)].

conclusionsWe found evidence of differences in phase- and trimester-specific associations of UGD and PTB and indication of particular risk associated with extremely preterm birth. Future studies should focus on quantifying specific chemical and nonchemical stressors associated with UGD. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP2622.

Indexed as

Oil and Gas IndustryAdultCase-Control StudiesFemaleGestational AgeHumansInfant, NewbornMaternal ExposureNatural GasPregnancyPregnancy TrimestersPremature BirthRisk FactorsYoung AdultNatural Gas

Identifiers

PMID29578659
PMCPMC6071723

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.