ReviewThe Science of the total environment2019
Impact of upstream oil extraction and environmental public health: A review of the evidence.
Review in The Science of the total environment, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Association between maternal exposure to oil and gas extraction process with adverse birth outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Pooled it
- Microbial synthesis and degradation of bio-based biodegradable plastics.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Geospatial dataset of oil wells and socio-environmental vulnerability indicators in coastal urban territories.Data in brief · 2026Article
- Toxic metals and urban oil and gas production in a Latina cohort in South Los Angeles, California.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Limited impact of autochthonous bioaugmentation used for the bioremediation of the oily desert soil at elevated temperatures.iScience · 2026Article
- Article
- Health Effects of Living Near Petroleum and Biofuel Refineries: A Systematic Evidence Map and Scoping Review.Current environmental health reports · 2026Article
- The hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria and fungi in oil contaminated soils of Kazakhstan: microbiome composition, enrichment, isolation and bioremediation potential.Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- Histological and Inflammatory Changes in Thyroid Glands and Early Growth Outcomes in Offspring of Rats Exposed to Ambient Air Pollution near a Petrochemical Complex: A Preliminary Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- The occurrence and persistence of surface water contaminants across different landscapes.The Science of the total environment · 2025Article
- Sociodemographic and Population Exposure to Upstream Oil and Gas Operations in Canada.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Genomic Insights of Wheat Root-AssociatedMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action.Lancet (London, England) · 2024Review
- Upstream Oil and Gas Production and Community COVID-19 Case and Mortality Rates in California, USA.GeoHealth · 2024Article
- Article
- Toxicological Effects of Inhaled Crude Oil Vapor.Current environmental health reports · 2024Review
- Bacterial Diversity in Old Hydrocarbon Polluted Sediments of Ecuadorian Amazon River Basins.Toxics · 2024Article
- Heavy metals contamination of seafood from the crude oil-impacted Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Toxicology reports · 2023Review
- The Imperative of Equitable Protection: Structural Racism and Oil Drilling in Los Angeles.American journal of public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Upstream oil extraction, which includes exploration and operation to bring crude oil to the surface, frequently occurs near human populations. There are approximately 40,000 oil fields globally and 6 million people that live or work nearby. Oil extraction can impact local soil, water, and air, which in turn can influence community health. As oil resources are increasingly being extracted near human populations, we highlight the current scope of scientific knowledge regarding potential community health impacts with the aim to help identify scientific gaps and inform policy discussions surrounding oil drilling operations. In this review, we assess the wide range of both direct and indirect impacts that oil drilling operations can have on human health, with specific emphasis on understanding the body of scientific literature to assess potential environmental and health risks to residents living near active onshore oil extraction sites. From an initial literature search capturing 2236 studies, we identified 22 human studies, including 5 occupational studies, 5 animal studies, 6 experimental studies and 31 oil drilling-related exposure studies relevant to the scope of this review. The current evidence suggests potential health impacts due to exposure to upstream oil extraction, such as cancer, liver damage, immunodeficiency, and neurological symptoms. Adverse impacts to soil, air, and water quality in oil drilling regions were also identified. Improved characterization of exposures by community health studies and further study of the chemical mixtures associated with oil extraction will be critical to determining the full range of health risks to communities living near oil extraction.
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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.