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Exposure to unconventional oil and gas development and all-cause mortality in Medicare beneficiaries

Li, Longxiang ; Dominici, Francesca ; Blomberg, Annelise J. LU orcid ; Bargagli-Stoffi, Falco J. ; Schwartz, Joel D. ; Coull, Brent A. ; Spengler, John D. ; Wei, Yaguang ; Lawrence, Joy and Koutrakis, Petros (2022) In Nature Energy 7(2). p.177-185
Abstract

Little is known about whether exposure to unconventional oil and gas development is associated with higher mortality risks in the elderly and whether related air pollutants are exposure pathways. We studied a cohort of 15,198,496 Medicare beneficiaries (136,215,059 person-years) in all major US unconventional exploration regions from 2001 to 2015. We gathered data from records of more than 2.5 million oil and gas wells. For each beneficiary’s ZIP code of residence and year in the cohort, we calculated a proximity-based and a downwind-based pollutant exposure. We analysed the data using two methods: a Cox proportional hazards model and a difference-in-differences design. We found evidence of a statistically significant higher mortality... (More)

Little is known about whether exposure to unconventional oil and gas development is associated with higher mortality risks in the elderly and whether related air pollutants are exposure pathways. We studied a cohort of 15,198,496 Medicare beneficiaries (136,215,059 person-years) in all major US unconventional exploration regions from 2001 to 2015. We gathered data from records of more than 2.5 million oil and gas wells. For each beneficiary’s ZIP code of residence and year in the cohort, we calculated a proximity-based and a downwind-based pollutant exposure. We analysed the data using two methods: a Cox proportional hazards model and a difference-in-differences design. We found evidence of a statistically significant higher mortality risk associated with living in proximity to and downwind of unconventional oil and gas wells. Our results suggest that primary air pollutants sourced from unconventional oil and gas exploration can be a major exposure pathway with adverse health effects in the elderly.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Energy
volume
7
issue
2
pages
9 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:35425643
  • scopus:85123775629
ISSN
2058-7546
DOI
10.1038/s41560-021-00970-y
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1bc0842d-3273-4dda-8300-c97e1d1679f7
date added to LUP
2022-12-30 08:44:02
date last changed
2024-04-15 00:19:09
@article{1bc0842d-3273-4dda-8300-c97e1d1679f7,
  abstract     = {{<p>Little is known about whether exposure to unconventional oil and gas development is associated with higher mortality risks in the elderly and whether related air pollutants are exposure pathways. We studied a cohort of 15,198,496 Medicare beneficiaries (136,215,059 person-years) in all major US unconventional exploration regions from 2001 to 2015. We gathered data from records of more than 2.5 million oil and gas wells. For each beneficiary’s ZIP code of residence and year in the cohort, we calculated a proximity-based and a downwind-based pollutant exposure. We analysed the data using two methods: a Cox proportional hazards model and a difference-in-differences design. We found evidence of a statistically significant higher mortality risk associated with living in proximity to and downwind of unconventional oil and gas wells. Our results suggest that primary air pollutants sourced from unconventional oil and gas exploration can be a major exposure pathway with adverse health effects in the elderly.</p>}},
  author       = {{Li, Longxiang and Dominici, Francesca and Blomberg, Annelise J. and Bargagli-Stoffi, Falco J. and Schwartz, Joel D. and Coull, Brent A. and Spengler, John D. and Wei, Yaguang and Lawrence, Joy and Koutrakis, Petros}},
  issn         = {{2058-7546}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{177--185}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Energy}},
  title        = {{Exposure to unconventional oil and gas development and all-cause mortality in Medicare beneficiaries}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00970-y}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41560-021-00970-y}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}