Rabinowitz Peter M, Slizovskiy Ilya B, Lamers Vanessa, Trufan Sally J, Holford Theodore R, Dziura James D, Peduzzi Peter N, Kane Michael J, Reif John S, Weiss Theresa R, Stowe Meredith H
Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2015 Jan;123(1):21-6. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1307732. Epub 2014 Sep 10.
Little is known about the environmental and public health impact of unconventional natural gas extraction activities, including hydraulic fracturing, that occur near residential areas.
Our aim was to assess the relationship between household proximity to natural gas wells and reported health symptoms.
We conducted a hypothesis-generating health symptom survey of 492 persons in 180 randomly selected households with ground-fed wells in an area of active natural gas drilling. Gas well proximity for each household was compared with the prevalence and frequency of reported dermal, respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and neurological symptoms.
The number of reported health symptoms per person was higher among residents living < 1 km (mean ± SD, 3.27 ± 3.72) compared with > 2 km from the nearest gas well (mean ± SD, 1.60 ± 2.14; p = 0.0002). In a model that adjusted for age, sex, household education, smoking, awareness of environmental risk, work type, and animals in house, reported skin conditions were more common in households < 1 km compared with > 2 km from the nearest gas well (odds ratio = 4.1; 95% CI: 1.4, 12.3; p = 0.01). Upper respiratory symptoms were also more frequently reported in persons living in households < 1 km from gas wells (39%) compared with households 1-2 km or > 2 km from the nearest well (31 and 18%, respectively) (p = 0.004). No equivalent correlation was found between well proximity and other reported groups of respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular, or gastrointestinal conditions.
Although these results should be viewed as hypothesis generating, and the population studied was limited to households with a ground-fed water supply, proximity of natural gas wells may be associated with the prevalence of health symptoms including dermal and respiratory conditions in residents living near natural gas extraction activities. Further study of these associations, including the role of specific air and water exposures, is warranted.
对于在居民区附近进行的非常规天然气开采活动（包括水力压裂）对环境和公众健康的影响，人们了解甚少。
我们的目的是评估家庭与天然气井的距离和所报告的健康症状之间的关系。
我们对活跃天然气钻探区域内180户随机选取的使用地面供水井的家庭中的492人进行了一项产生假设的健康症状调查。将每户与天然气井的距离与所报告的皮肤、呼吸、胃肠、心血管和神经症状的患病率及发生频率进行比较。
与距离最近天然气井超过2公里（平均值±标准差，1.60±2.14）的居民相比，距离最近天然气井小于1公里（平均值±标准差，3.27±3.72）的居民每人报告的健康症状数量更多（p = 0.0002）。在一个对年龄、性别、家庭教育、吸烟、环境风险意识、工作类型和家中是否饲养动物进行校正的模型中，距离最近天然气井小于1公里的家庭中报告的皮肤疾病比距离超过2公里的家庭更常见（优势比 = 4.1；95%置信区间：1.4，(12.3)；p = 0.01）。距离天然气井小于1公里的家庭中的居民报告上呼吸道症状的频率也更高（39%），相比之下，距离最近天然气井1 - 2公里或超过2公里的家庭中该比例分别为31%和18%（p = 0.004）。在天然气井距离与其他所报告的呼吸、神经、心血管或胃肠疾病组之间未发现类似的相关性。
尽管这些结果应被视为产生假设，且所研究的人群仅限于使用地面供水的家庭，但天然气井的距离可能与天然气开采活动附近居民的健康症状患病率有关，包括皮肤和呼吸疾病。有必要对这些关联进行进一步研究，包括特定空气和水暴露的作用。
