ArticleJournal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology2021
Density and proximity to hydraulic fracturing wells and birth outcomes in Northeastern British Columbia, Canada.
Article in Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Oil and Gas Development and Adverse Birth Outcomes: A Qualitative and Quantitative Bias Analysis of the Epidemiologic Literature.Current environmental health reports · 2026Pooled it
- The public health impacts of mining in Australia.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Pooled it
- Probing sources of strontium exposure in pregnant individuals living near unconventional oil and gas wells using urinaryJournal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Structural birth defects and exposure to oil and gas wells during pregnancy.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Residential proximity to oil and gas development and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus.International journal of epidemiology · 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
- A Narrative Review of Spatial-Temporal Data Sources for Estimating Population-Level Exposures to Oil and Gas Development in the United States.Current environmental health reports · 2025Review
- Sociodemographic and Population Exposure to Upstream Oil and Gas Operations in Canada.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- IMPACT OF REAL-LIFE ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES ON REPRODUCTION: Evidence for reproductive health effects following exposure to hydraulic fracturing chemical mixtures.Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2024Review
- Residential Proximity to Oil and Gas Development and Mental Health in a North American Preconception Cohort Study: 2013-2023.American journal of public health · 2024Article
- Altered oxidative stress and antioxidant biomarkers concentrations in pregnant individuals exposed to oil and gas sites in Northeastern British Columbia.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 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
- A new method for estimating ore grade based on sample length weighting.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- It's electric! An environmental equity perspective on the lifecycle of our energy sources.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2023Article
- Congenital anomalies associated with oil and gas development and resource extraction: a population-based retrospective cohort study in Texas.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2023Article
- Assessing Exposure to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development: Strengths, Challenges, and Implications for Epidemiologic Research.Current environmental health reports · 2022Review
- 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
- Associations between residential proximity to oil and gas extraction and hypertensive conditions during pregnancy: a difference-in-differences analysis in Texas, 1996-2009.International journal of epidemiology · 2022Article
- Residential proximity to hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells and adverse birth outcomes in urban and rural communities in California (2006-2015).Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2021Article
- The effects of hydraulic fracturing activities on birth outcomes are evident in a non-individualized county-wide aggregate data sample from Colorado.Journal of public health research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHydraulic fracturing, a method used in Northeastern British Columbia (Canada) to extract natural gas, can release contaminants with potential deleterious health effects on fetal development. To date, the association between hydraulic fracturing activity and birth outcomes has not been evaluated in this region.
objectiveTo evaluate the association between the hydraulic fracturing well density/proximity and birth outcomes (birthweight, head circumference, preterm birth and small for gestational age (SGA)).
methodsWe used birth records from the Fort St John hospital between December 30, 2006 and December 29, 2016 (n = 6333 births). To estimate gestational exposure, we used inverse distance weighting (IDW) to calculate the density/proximity of hydraulic fracturing wells to pregnant women's postal code centroid. For each birth, we calculated three IDWs using 2.5, 5, and 10 km buffer zones around women's postal code centroid. We used linear and logistic regressions to evaluate associations between quartiles of postal code well density/proximity and birth outcomes, controlling for relevant covariates.
resultsNo associations were found between postal code well density/proximity and head circumference or SGA. A negative association was found between postal code well density/proximity and birthweight for infants born to women in the 2nd quartile of the 10 km buffer (β [95% confidence interval (CI)]: -47.28 g [-84.30; -10.25]), and in the 2nd (β [95% CI]: -40.87 g [-78.01; -3.73]) and 3rd (β [95% CI]: -42.01 g [-79.15; -4.87]) quartiles of the 5 km buffer. Increased odds of preterm birth were observed among women in the 2nd quartile of the 2.5 km buffer (odds ratio (OR) [95% CI]: 1.60 [1.30; 2.43]).
conclusionsThis is the first epidemiological study in Northeastern British Columbia evaluating associations between hydraulic fracturing and health outcomes. Our results show inconsistent patterns of association between hydraulic fracturing, preterm birth and reduced birthweight, and effect estimates did not match expected dose-response relationships.
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