A baseline health survey of nine counties in the Marcellus Shale gas drilling region of Northeast Pennsylvania has determined that tobacco use, obesity and a lack of health insurance are common in the area.
Funded by the state Department of Public Welfare, the $75,000 study looked at a broad range of chronic and acute health conditions of a sample of 458 people in Bradford, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wayne and Wyoming counties.
The state-funded survey by the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute is being viewed as a first step toward helping track possible future health impacts from the hydraulic-fracturing drilling method known as fracking.
"A variety of issues related to 'fracking' and other processes used to produce natural gas have contributed to community concerns about potential adverse health outcomes," principle survey investigator Dr. Samuel Lesko said in a statement. "The data we collected can be used as a reference point to compare the health of the community in the future should these concerns continue or grow."
For starters, many people in the area exhibit poor-health risk factors of obesity, tobacco use and not having health insurance, the survey found.
"Putting potential concerns about Marcellus Shale drilling aside, this is not a community on track for better health," Dr. Lesko said.
The admittedly-small survey had a good response rate, said cancer institute President Bob Durkin. Participants answered questions about themselves, their medical histories, where they have lived, their drinking-water sources and personal habits, and submitted saliva samples for possible later genetic analysis. The survey aimed to determine the prevalence of chronic diseases, known risk factors and the willingness of the community to participate in future surveys.
"I feel confident we accomplished all of these," Mr. Durkin said in a phone interview.
Mr. Durkin also noted that the survey may dovetail into a larger-scale study by Geisinger Health System of possible health impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling. That study, announced in February, is to look at detailed health histories of hundreds of thousands of patients who live near fracking wells and other facilities producing natural gas.
"We've been able to establish some rudimentary elements of a possible long-term study," Mr. Durkin said.
Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com