ArticleEnvironmental research2023
Residential proximity to unconventional oil and gas development and birth defects in Ohio.
Article in Environmental research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 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
- The public health impacts of mining in Australia.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Pooled it
- School-based exposures to oil and gas development for public school children in the United States.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Residential proximity to oil and gas development and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Genetic disorders and congenital anomalies in Nigeria: a scoping review.Journal of community genetics · 2026Review
- Structural birth defects and exposure to oil and gas wells during pregnancy.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Impact of oil and gas boom and busts on working-age mortality in the U.S.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Investigating the Aliso Canyon gas blowout disaster and adverse birth outcomes: A quasiexperimental approach.Science advances · 2025Article
- The health burden and racial-ethnic disparities of air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States.Science advances · 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
- Invited commentary: improving spatial exposure data for everyone-life-course social context and ascertaining residential history.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Invited Perspective: Drilling Down into the Mechanisms Linking Oil and Gas Development to Adverse Perinatal Health Outcomes.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
- 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
- US drinking water quality: exposure risk profiles for seven legacy and emerging contaminants.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChemicals used or emitted by unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) include reproductive/developmental toxicants. Associations between UOGD and certain birth defects were reported in a few studies, with none conducted in Ohio, which experienced a thirty-fold increase in natural gas production between 2010 and 2020.
methodsWe conducted a registry-based cohort study of 965,236 live births in Ohio from 2010 to 2017. Birth defects were identified in 4653 individuals using state birth records and a state surveillance system. We assigned UOGD exposure based on maternal residential proximity at birth to active UOG wells and a metric specific to the drinking-water exposure pathway that identified UOG wells hydrologically connected to a residence ("upgradient UOG wells"). We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all structural birth defects combined and specific birth defect types using binary exposure metrics (presence/absence of any UOG well and presence/absence of an upgradient UOG well within 10 km), adjusting for confounders. Additionally, we conducted analyses stratified by urbanicity, infant sex, and social vulnerability.
resultsThe odds of any structural defect were 1.13 times higher in children born to mothers living within 10 km of UOGD than those born to unexposed mothers (95%CI: 0.98-1.30). Odds were elevated for neural tube defects (OR: 1.57, 95%CI: 1.12-2.19), limb reduction defects (OR: 1.99, 95%CI: 1.18-3.35), and spina bifida (OR 1.93; 95%CI 1.25-2.98). Hypospadias (males only) was inversely related to UOGD exposure (OR: 0.62, 95%CI: 0.43-0.91). Odds of any structural defect were greater in magnitude but less precise in analyses using the hydrological-specific metric (OR: 1.30; 95%CI: 0.85-1.90), in areas with high social vulnerability (OR: 1.27, 95%CI: 0.99-1.60), and among female offspring (OR: 1.28, 95%CI: 1.06-1.53).
conclusionsOur results suggest a positive association between UOGD and certain birth defects, and findings for neural tube defects corroborate results from prior studies.
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