Exposure to unconventional oil and gas development and all-cause mortality in Medicare beneficiaries
(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.
(Less)
- author
- Li, Longxiang ; Dominici, Francesca ; Blomberg, Annelise J. LU ; Bargagli-Stoffi, Falco J. ; Schwartz, Joel D. ; Coull, Brent A. ; Spengler, John D. ; Wei, Yaguang ; Lawrence, Joy and Koutrakis, Petros
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-02
- 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}}, }