Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology, Yale University Schools of Public Health and Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2022 Aug;130(8):87001. doi: 10.1289/EHP11092. Epub 2022 Aug 17.
Unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) releases chemicals that have been linked to cancer and childhood leukemia. Studies of UOGD exposure and childhood leukemia are extremely limited.
The objective of this study was to evaluate potential associations between residential proximity to UOGD and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood leukemia, in a large regional sample using UOGD-specific metrics, including a novel metric to represent the water pathway.
We conducted a registry-based case-control study of 405 children ages 2-7 y diagnosed with ALL in Pennsylvania between 2009-2017, and 2,080 controls matched on birth year. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between residential proximity to UOGD (including a new water pathway-specific proximity metric) and ALL in two exposure windows: a primary window (3 months preconception to 1 y prior to diagnosis/reference date) and a perinatal window (preconception to birth).
Children with at least one UOG well within of their birth residence during the primary window had 1.98 times the odds of developing ALL in comparison with those with no UOG wells [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 3.69]. Children with at least one vs. no UOG wells within during the perinatal window had 2.80 times the odds of developing ALL (95% CI: 1.11, 7.05). These relationships were slightly attenuated after adjusting for maternal race and socio-economic status [odds ratio (OR) (95% CI: 0.93, 3.27) and (95% CI: 0.93, 5.95)], respectively). The ORs produced by models using the water pathway-specific metric were similar in magnitude to the aggregate metric.
Our study including a novel UOGD metric found UOGD to be a risk factor for childhood ALL. This work adds to mounting evidence of UOGD's impacts on children's health, providing additional support for limiting UOGD near residences. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11092.
非常规油气开发（UOGD）释放的化学物质已被证实与癌症和儿童白血病有关。目前，有关 UOGD 暴露与儿童白血病的研究非常有限。
本研究旨在使用特定于 UOGD 的指标（包括一种新的代表水途径的指标）评估住宅距离 UOGD 与宾夕法尼亚州 2009-2017 年间诊断为急性淋巴细胞白血病（ALL，最常见的儿童白血病形式）的 405 名 2-7 岁儿童病例和 2080 名年龄匹配对照病例之间潜在关联的风险。
我们开展了一项基于登记的病例对照研究，研究对象为 405 名在宾夕法尼亚州于 2009-2017 年间确诊为 ALL 的 2-7 岁儿童病例，以及 2080 名年龄匹配的对照病例。我们使用逻辑回归估计住宅距离 UOGD（包括新的水途径特定接近度指标）与 ALL 之间的关联的比值比（OR）和 95%置信区间（CI），暴露窗口分为两个：主要暴露窗口（受孕前 3 个月至诊断前 1 年/参考日期）和围产期暴露窗口（受孕前至出生）。
与没有 UOG 井的儿童相比，在主要暴露窗口期间至少有一口 UOG 井距离其出生住址 以内的儿童患 ALL 的可能性增加 1.98 倍（95%CI：1.06，3.69）。在围产期暴露窗口期间，距离至少一口 UOG 井 以内的儿童患 ALL 的可能性增加 2.80 倍（95%CI：1.11，7.05）。在分别调整母亲种族和社会经济地位后，这些关系略有减弱[比值比（OR）（95%CI：0.93，3.27）和（95%CI：0.93，5.95）]。使用特定于水途径的指标的模型得出的 OR 与综合指标的大小相似。
本研究包括一项新的 UOGD 指标，发现 UOGD 是儿童 ALL 的危险因素。这项工作增加了 UOGD 对儿童健康影响的证据，为限制 UOGD 在住宅附近的开发提供了更多支持。https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11092.
