Critical Review: Human Health Literature Related to Unconventional Oil and Natural Gas Development

Abstract

BackgroundDevelopment of oil and natural gas from unconventional resources (UOGD) has expanded rapidly in the last decade, and increased public and academic interest has led to a growing body of literature about its potential health effects. This review summarizes the epidemiological evidence and what the body of literature does and does not tell us about the relationship between UOGD and health.MethodsThe Health Effects Institute’s Energy Research Committee (the Committee), consisting of multidisciplinary experts from across the U.S., along with HEI staff systematically reviewed the peer-reviewed and gray epidemiologic literature published between January 2000 and March 2018 by searching several electronic databases and consulting with expert stakeholders. The Committee elected to review analytical epidemiological studies worldwide with a primary focus on UOGD exposure and human health outcomes to assess whether the health of people living in locations affected by UOGD are adversely affected by the operations. Each study was assessed in duplicate for quality and risk of bias using an approach based on guidance from the National Toxicology Program Office of Health Assessment and Translation.ResultsThe epidemiologic studies report associations between UOGD and various outcomes, including perinatal effects, asthma, cancer, hospitalizations and self-report health symptoms. Study authors discuss limitations of their studies, including reliance on imprecise proxies for UOG Exposure, with many noting that causality cannot be assessed without better exposure measures. This presentation will provide the Committee’s findings about the strengths and weaknesses of this body of literature.ConclusionsThis systematic, impartial literature review will be useful to regulators, scientists, and others interested in understanding what is known about potential health effects of UOGD, what knowledge gaps remain, and how important knowledge gaps could be filled with future research.