Mountain Holler
WVU study: Coal counties have higher disease rates
Higher levels of coal production are associated with higher rates of a variety of lung, heart and other illnesses among residents, according to the study.
Based on phone interviews with nearly 16,500 residents, the study may be the first of its kind to examine health effects of living in U.S. coal-mining communities.
Researchers used county-by-county coal production figures to compare whether residents living in areas with more mining suffered from higher rates of illnesses typically linked to coal-related pollution.
"As coal production increased, health status worsened, and rates of cardiopulmonary disease, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease increased," said the study, being published in the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health. "Within larger disease categories, specific types of disease associated with coal production included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, black lung disease and hypertension."
The study was done by Michael Hendryx, an associate professor in WVU's Department of Community Medicine, and Melissa M. Ahern of Washington State University.
According to the study, previous scientific literature suggests that the risk for these illnesses increases with exposure to coal byproducts.
"Toxins and impurities present in coal have been linked to kidney disease and to hypertension and other cardiovascular disease," the study said. "The effects also may result from the general inflammatory or systemic consequences of inhaled particles."
Adverse health effects may also be "a result of slurry holdings that leach toxins into drinking water and air pollution effects of coal mining and washing," the study said.
The study "serves as a screening test to examine whether coal mining poses a health risk for adults living near the mining sites," researchers said.
"Confirmatory tests should be undertaken to establish mechanisms of action, magnitude, and health consequences of an exposure effect," the study said.
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Coal pollution and diseases linked in WVU study
By Scott Finn
Living in a coal-mining community may be hazardous to your health. That's
according to a new study by a WVU researcher to be published in the April
issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Researcher Michael Hendryx found higher rates of kidney and lung disease and
high blood pressure in West Virginia's coal-producing counties. He says this
is true even when you take into account differences in income and lifestyle.
Hendryx says he can't say for sure what's causing the increased rate of
disease, but his working theory is exposure to coal dust and mining runoff.
Hendryx compared the self-reported rate of disease in coal mining counties
of West Virginia to counties with no coal mining. He controlled for
lifestyle differences, such smoking rates, and other factors like income.
He found that people in coal mining communities have a 70 percent increased
risk for developing kidney disease, a 64 percent increased risk for
developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as emphysema, and are
30 percent more likely to report high blood pressure.
Hendryx didn't just crunch the numbers for his study. He visited coalfield
communities himself.
"You can go to a town where there's a large coal processing facility, and
you can meet with someone who will take you into their backyard and they
will wipe the coal dust off their lawn furniture, and you can go back a
month later and they'll do it again," he said.
"I went to one town where I witnessed an explosion from the mountaintop
removal site and watched the dust settles over the neighborhood. When you
see things like that, you know you're dealing with something real," he said.
He can't prove that coal pollution is the culprit, but that's his leading
theory right now.
"There's good evidence from other research that links exposure to air
pollution and exposure to specific toxic elements found in coal to these
same diseases," he said.
There's one more piece of evidence that pollution is to blame - when he
looked at diseases that haven't been linked to coal pollution, such as
diabetes, he found the rates were the same for coal and non-coal counties.
"It's not present for diabetes when you control for other factors,
indicating to me that higher rates of diabetes in coal mining areas are
because of these lifestyle issues. But even after you adjust for those
factors, it is still present for lung cancer, for chronic lung disease,
heart disease and kidney disease. So I do think the environmental quality
problems are part of that picture, and we can't ignore it anymore," he said.
The rates of diseases were higher for both men and women. Since most coal
miners are men, he says this tells him the entire coal mining community is
affected - not just coal miners themselves.
Hendryx believes this is the first study of its kind in the United States.
Next, he plans to return to the coalfield and take air and water samples to
determine whether pollution is worse there.
He says the stakes can be life and death. In an earlier study, he compared
the death rates between coal and non-coal counties. Again, controlling for
income and lifestyle differences, he estimates that coal pollution kills 313
West Virginians every year.