Publicly available data reveals association between asthma hospitalizations and unconventional natural gas development in Pennsylvania.

ABSTRACT: Since the early 2000s, unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) has rapidly grown throughout Pennsylvania. UNGD extracts natural gas using a relatively new method known as hydraulic fracturing (HF). Here we addressed the association of HF with asthma Hospitalization Admission Rates (HAR) using publicly available data. Using public county-level data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA-DOH) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the years 2001-2014, we constructed regression models to study the previously observed association between asthma exacerbation and HF. After considering multicollinearity, county-level demographics and area-level covariables were included to account for known asthma risk factors. We found a significant positive association bet

SUBMITTER: Bushong A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8970380 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature