ArticleEnvironmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.)2021
Residential proximity to hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells and adverse birth outcomes in urban and rural communities in California (2006-2015).
Article in Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Oil and Gas Development and Adverse Birth Outcomes: A Qualitative and Quantitative Bias Analysis of the Epidemiologic Literature.Current environmental health reports · 2026Pooled 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
- The public health impacts of mining in Australia.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Pooled it
- 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
- Upstream Oil and Gas Production and Community COVID-19 Case and Mortality Rates in California, USA.GeoHealth · 2024Article
- A National Study of the Associations between Hormonal Modulators in Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Chemicals and Birth Outcomes in the United States of America: A County-Level Analysis.Environmental health perspectives · 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
- 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
- Environmental Justice: Where It Has Been, and Where It Might Be Going.Annual review of public health · 2023Review
- Associations between occurrence of birth defects and hydraulic fracturing activities in Barnett shale region, Texas.Heliyon · 2023Article
- It's electric! An environmental equity perspective on the lifecycle of our energy sources.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2023Article
- Temporal Trends of Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Population Exposures to Upstream Oil and Gas Development in California.GeoHealth · 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
- 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
- Associations between proximity to gas production activity in counties and birth outcomes across the US.Preventive medicine reports · 2022Article
- Metal Exposures in Residents Living Near an Urban Oil Drilling Site in Los Angeles, California.Environmental science & technology · 2022Article
- Assessing Exposure to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development: Strengths, Challenges, and Implications for Epidemiologic Research.Current environmental health reports · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrenatal exposure to hydraulic fracturing (HF), a chemically intensive oil and gas extraction method, may be associated with adverse birth outcomes, but no health studies have been conducted in California.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of 979,961 births to mothers in eight California counties with HF between 2006 and 2015. Exposed individuals had at least 1 well hydraulically fractured within 1 km of their residence during pregnancy; the reference population had no wells within 1 km, but at least one oil/gas well within 10 km. We examined associations between HF and low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), small for gestational age birth (SGA), and term birth weight (tBW) using generalized estimating equations and assessing urban-rural effect modification in stratified models.
resultsFewer than 1% of mothers (N = 1,192) were exposed to HF during pregnancy. Among rural mothers, HF exposure was associated with increased odds of LBW (odds ratio [OR] = 1.74; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.10, 2.75), SGA (OR = 1.68; 95% CI = 1.42, 2.27) and PTB (OR = 1.17; 95% CI = 0.64, 2.12), and lower tBW (mean difference: -73 g; 95% CI = -131, -15). Among urban mothers, HF exposure was positively associated with SGA (OR = 1.23; 95% CI = 0.98, 1.55), inversely associated with LBW (OR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.63, 1.07) and PTB (OR = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.48, 0.87), and not associated with tBW (mean difference: -2 g; 95% CI = -35, 31).
conclusionHF proximity was associated with adverse birth outcomes, particularly among rural Californians.
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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.