Fracking is legal in Pennsylvania but not in New York. That created a situation where researchers were able to compare nearby areas, one where fracking was abundant, and the other where fracking was absent, as shown in the title image. For the primary comparison they used the blue and yellow regions. The orange region was considered to be potentially subject to air pollution from the fracking. They compared medical records of Medicare beneficiaries. What they found:
in 2015 alone, there were an additional 11·8, 21·6, and 20·4 hospitalisations for AMI [heart attack], heart failure, and ischaemic heart disease, respectively, per 1000 Medicare beneficiaries, than would have been expected in the absence of UNGD. [emphasis added]
In round numbers, that is excess hospitalizations for cardiovascular disease of 5% of Medicare recipients, per year. Air pollution with toxic compounds is a probable cause:
Researchers have detected elevated levels of airborne hydrocarbons and other pollutants, including BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) compounds, methylene chloride, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, near UNGD [fracking wells].
Hospitalizations did not subside after peak development:
AMI, heart failure, and ischaemic heart disease hospitalisation rates in Pennsylvania continued to diverge from those of the unexposed regions even in years past peak development. The initial construction, drilling, and fracturing phases of UNGD are thought to generate the most air pollution and generally occur well within 1 year of the spud date.5,69However, these findings would suggest pollutants from operational wells, which involve trucking for production and waste disposal, also play a significant role in poor health outcomes.
Fracking impacts not just the elderly and not just cardiovascular — here is a study of pediatric asthma:
Methods
We leveraged a database of Texas inpatient hospitalizations between 2000 and 2010 at the zip code level by quarter to examine associations between NGD [natural gas drilling] and paediatric asthma hospitalizations, where our primary outcome is 0 vs ≥1 hospitalization. We used quarterly production reports to assess additional drilling-specific exposures at the zip code-level including drilling type, production and gas flaring. ..
Results
We observed increased odds of ≥1 paediatric asthma hospitalization in a zip code per quarter associated with increasing tertiles of NGD exposure and show that spatiotemporal variation impacts results. Conventional drilling, compared with no drilling, is associated with odds ratios up to 1.23..., whereas unconventional drilling [fracking] is associated with odds ratios up to 1.59 .. Increasing production volumes are associated with increased paediatric asthma hospitalizations in an exposure–response relationship.
Asthma exacerbations at all ages:
we estimated activity metrics for 4 UNGD phases (pad preparation, drilling, stimulation [hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”], and production) using distance from the patient’s home to the well, well characteristics, and the dates and durations of phases.
Main Outcomes and Measures We identified and defined asthma exacerbations as mild (new oral corticosteroid medication order), moderate (emergency department encounter), or severe (hospitalization).
Results We identified 20 749 mild, 1870 moderate, and 4782 severe asthma exacerbations, and frequency matched these to 18 693, 9350, and 14 104 control index dates, respectively. In 3-level adjusted models, there was an association between the highest group of the activity metric for each UNGD phase compared with the lowest group for 11 of 12 UNGD-outcome pairs: odds ratios (ORs) ranged from 1.5...for the association of the pad metric with severe exacerbations to 4.4 ... for the association of the production metric with mild exacerbations.
Many studies found heightened risk of preterm birth or low birth weight associated with proximity to fracking wells. For example:
Unconventional Natural Gas Development and Birth Outcomes in Pennsylvania, USA
association between unconventional natural gas development activity and preterm birth that increased across quartiles, with a fourth quartile odds ratio of 1.4
Yet another reason to replace fossil fuels with renewables.
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