Pregnant women living near oil fields may be at risk of premature delivery

a new study on the birth of babies in California's major oil-producing regions suggests that living near oil/gas fields may increase the risk of precocity. The paper was published in Environmental Epidemiology. It is the first study to investigate a potential link between oil/gas fields and spontaneous precocian birth in California. In the United States, about 17 million people live less than a mile from oil/gas wells.
researchers looked at 225,000 mothers born within six miles of the San Joao Valley oil/gas well from 1998 to 2011. The results showed that women living near oil fields in the first three months of pregnancy were 8 to 14 percent more likely to be premature at 20 to 31 weeks of pregnancy. Spontaneous premature birth is the main cause of infant mortality in the United States.
"there is evidence that environmental exposure increases the risk of precocminity, and we are aware that oil/gas wells may adversely affect the health status of pregnant women." Study author David Gonzalez, a doctoral student at Stanford University, said.
ruled out multiple births and women with precoctic-related diseases, such as pre-eclampsia in pregnant women. Results Of the 225,000 births, 28,000 were spontaneous premature births. The researchers said the negative effects of living near the well were most pronounced among Hispanics, African-Americans or women with less than 12 years of education.
the new findings are different from another recent study by the University of California, Berkeley, which found that living near the state's oil and gas companies may increase the risk of low birth weight and childbearing age, but not premature birth. Researchers at Stanford University believe these different conclusions are due to the fact that they have only studied cases of spontaneous precocing.
Shaw, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine and author of the new study, said the causes of prematurity, especially those that occur naturally, remain a mystery.
but the researchers plan to further explore why living near oil/gas wells can lead to spontaneous precocm birth. They believe nearby residents may be exposed to a range of environmental pollutants and stress sources. For example, chemicals used in the extraction process may have been inhaled, pressure from drilling noise, contaminated water may have been consumed, or higher levels of particulate matter in the air may have been inhaled.
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