Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Exposures and Long-term Self-rated Health Effects Among Parents in Coastal Louisiana.

PURPOSE

To assess whether exposure to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) was related to parents' self-rated health over time.

DESIGN

3 waves of panel data were drawn from the Gulf Coast Population Impact study (2014) and Resilient Children, Youth, and Communities study (2016, 2018).

SETTING

Coastal Louisiana communities in high-impact DHOS areas.

PARTICIPANTS

Respondents were parents or guardians aged 18 - 84, culled from a probability sample of households with a child aged 4 to 18 (N = 526) at the time of the 2010 DHOS.

MEASURES

Self-rated health was measured at each wave. Self-reported physical exposure to the DHOS, economic exposure to the DHOS, and control variables were measured in 2014.

ANALYSIS

We used econometric random effects regression for panel data to assess relationships between DHOS exposures and self-rated health over time, controlling for potentially confounding covariates.

RESULTS

Both physical exposure (0.39 < 0.001) and economic exposure (b = -0.34; < 0.001) to the DHOS had negative associations with self-rated health over the study period. Physical exposure had a larger effect size.

CONCLUSION

Parents' physical contact with, and economic disruption from, the 2010 DHOS were tied to long-term diminished health.