ArticleEnvironmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.)2018
Association between Oklahoma earthquakes and anxiety-related Google search episodes.
Article in Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Promises and Pitfalls of Internet Search Data in Mental Health: Critical Review.JMIR mental health · 2025Review
- It's electric! An environmental equity perspective on the lifecycle of our energy sources.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2023Article
- Manmade earthquakes and healthcare visits for anxiety disorders in Oklahoma, 2010-2019.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2023Article
- Assessing Exposure to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development: Strengths, Challenges, and Implications for Epidemiologic Research.Current environmental health reports · 2022Review
- Effect of linguistic framing and information provision on attitudes towards induced seismicity and seismicity regulation.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Highly public anti-Black violence is associated with poor mental health days for Black Americans.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Petro-riskscapes and environmental distress in West Texas: Community perceptions of environmental degradation, threats, and loss.Energy research & social science · 2020Article
- Relationships between indicators of cardiovascular disease and intensity of oil and natural gas activity in Northeastern Colorado.Environmental research · 2019Article
- Increased motor vehicle crashes following induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA.The Science of the total environment · 2019Article
- Neighborhood affluence is not associated with positive and negative valence processing in adults with mood and anxiety disorders: A Bayesian inference approach.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2019Article
- Associations of unconventional natural gas development with depression symptoms and disordered sleep in Pennsylvania.Scientific reports · 2018Article
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
backgroundOklahoma has experienced a rise in seismicity since 2010, with many earthquakes induced by wastewater injection. While large single earthquakes have documented mental health repercussions, health implications of these new, frequent earthquakes remain unknown. We aimed to examine associations between Oklahoma earthquakes and statewide anxiety measured by Google queries.
methodsThe U.S. Geologic Survey's Advanced National Seismic System Comprehensive Catalog supplied earthquake dates and magnitudes. We used the Google Health application programming interface to compile the proportion of weekly Oklahoma-based health-related search episodes for anxiety. A quasi-experimental time-series analysis from January 2010 to May 2017 evaluated monthly counts of earthquakes ≥ magnitude 4 (a level felt by most people) in relation to anxiety, controlling for US-wide anxiety search episodes and Oklahoma-specific health-related queries.
resultsOklahoma experienced an average of two (SD = 2) earthquakes ≥ magnitude 4 per month during the study period. For each additional earthquake ≥ magnitude 4, the proportion of Google search episodes for anxiety increased by 1.3% (95% confidence interval = 0.1%, 2.4%); 60% of this increase persisted for the following month. In months with 2 or more ≥ magnitude 4 earthquakes, the proportion of Google search episodes focused on anxiety increased by 5.8% (95% confidence interval = 2.3%, 9.3%). In a sub-analysis, Google search episodes for anxiety peaked about 3 weeks after ≥ magnitude 4 quakes.
conclusionsThese findings suggest that the recent increase in Oklahoma earthquakes has elicited a psychological response that may have implications for public health and regulatory policy.
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.