Children living near coal seam gas extraction sites are more likely to be hospitalised for respiratory diseases than children in other areas, an Australian study has found.
Queensland University researchers compared age-specific hospitalisation rates for almost 81,000 children living in three locations: one where coal seam gas is extracted, a coal mining area (CHI) and a rural area where no mining occurred (RLI) between 1995-2011.
All locations are in Queensland, where the CSG industry has been expanding since 2005.
The strongest associations were found for respiratory diseases in children in the 10-14 years age group, in whom there was a 9% increase in respiratory disease admission rates per year in CSG areas compared to a coal mining areas and a 11% increase per year compared to a rural area with no mining activity. For children under four years of age there was a 7% increase in respiratory disease admission rates per year in the CSG area compared to a coal mining area and a 6% increase compared to a rural area with no mining activity.
The greatest proportion of respiratory disease admissions in the CSG area came from classifications covered by ‘chronic tonsillitis’ and ‘asthma’ in the 10-14 age group. For the 0-4 years age group the most common respiratory disease-related admissions in CSG area were from acute upper respiratory tract infections, acute obstructive laryngitis, pneumonia and asthma.
The study authors said previous studies had highlighted inhalation as the most likely cause of exposure to chemicals potentially associated with unconventional natural gas development (UNGD).
“Air quality can be affected by UNGD as a variety of chemicals are emitted including methane, nitrogen oxides … and volatile organic compounds,” they said.
Ground-level ozone, which can create additional potential health impacts, was formed through nitrogen oxides, they added.