Angela K. Werner

Objectives At present, coal seam gas (CSG) is the most common form of unconventional natural gas development occurring in Australia. Few studies have been conducted to explore the potential health impacts of CSG development on children and adolescents. This analysis presents age-specific hospitalisation rates for a child and adolescent cohort in three study areas in Queensland. Methods Three geographic areas were selected: a CSG area, a coal mining area, and a rural area with no mining activity. Changes in area-specific hospital admissions were investigated over the period 1995–2011 in a series of negative binomial regression analyses for 19 International Classification of Diseases (ICD) chapters, adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Results The strongest associations were found for respiratory diseases in 0–4 year olds (7% increase [95% CI 4%, 11%] and 6% increase [95% CI 2%, 10%] in the CSG area relative to the coal mining and rural areas, respectively) and 10–14 year olds (9% increase [95% CI 1%, 18%] and 11% increase [95% CI 1%, 21%] in the CSG area compared to the coal mining and rural areas, respectively). The largest effect size was for blood/immune diseases in 5–9 year olds in the CSG area (467% increase [95% CI 139%, 1244%]) compared to the rural area with no mining activity. Conclusions for Practice Higher rates of hospitalisation existed in the CSG area for certain ICD chapters and paediatric age groups, suggesting potential age-specific health impacts. This study provides insights on associations that should be explored further in terms of child and adolescent health.

The majority of Australia’s coal seam gas (CSG) reserves are in Queensland, where the industry has expanded rapidly in recent years. Despite concerns, health data have not been examined alongside CSG development. This study examined hospitalisation rates as a function of CSG development activity in Queensland, during the period 1995–2011. Admissions data were examined with CSG well numbers, which served as a proxy for CSG development activity. Time series models were used to assess changes in hospitalisation rates for periods of “low”, “medium”, “high”, and “intense” activity compared to a period of “very low” activity, adjusting for covariates. “All-cause” hospitalisation rates increased monotonically with increasing gas well development activity in females (324.0 to 390.3 per 1000 persons) and males (294.2 to 335.4 per 1000 persons). Hospitalisation rates for “Blood/immune” conditions generally increased for both sexes. Female and male hospitalisation rates for “Circulatory” conditions decreased with increasing CSG activity. Hospitalisation rates were generally low for reproductive and birth outcomes; no clear associations were observed. This study showed some outcomes were associated with increasing CSG development activity. However, as a condition of data access, the population and outcomes were aggregated to a broad geographic study area rather than using higher geographic resolution data. Higher resolution data, as well as other data sources, should be explored. Further research should be conducted with an expanded time period to determine if these trends continue as the industry grows.

Unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) is expanding globally, with Australia expanding development in the form of coal seam gas (CSG). Residents and other interest groups have voiced concerns about the potential environmental and health impacts related to CSG. This paper compares objective health outcomes from three study areas in Queensland, Australia to examine potential environmentally-related health impacts. Three study areas were selected in an ecologic study design: a CSG area, a coal mining area, and a rural/agricultural area. Admitted patient data, as well as population data and additional factors, were obtained for each calendar year from 1995 through 2011 to calculate all-age hospitalization rates and age-standardized rates in each of these areas. The three areas were compared using negative binomial regression analyses (unadjusted and adjusted models) to examine increases over time of hospitalization rates grouped by primary diagnosis (19 ICD chapters), with rate ratios serving to compare the within-area regression slopes between the areas. The CSG area did not have significant increases in all-cause hospitalization rates over time for all-ages compared to the coal and rural study areas in adjusted models (RR: 1.02, 95 % CI: 1.00–1.04 as compared to the coal mining area; RR: 1.01, 95 % CI: 0.99–1.04 as compared to the rural area). While the CSG area did not show significant increases in specific hospitalization rates compared to both the coal mining and rural areas for any ICD chapters in the adjusted models, the CSG area showed increases in hospitalization rates compared only to the rural area for neoplasms (RR: 1.09, 95 % CI: 1.02–1.16) and blood/immune diseases (RR: 1.14, 95 % CI: 1.02–1.27). This exploratory study of all-age hospitalization rates for three study areas in Queensland suggests that certain hospital admissions rates increased more quickly in the CSG study area than in other study areas, particularly the rural area, after adjusting for key sociodemographic factors. These findings are an important first step in identifying potential health impacts of CSG in the Australian context and serve to generate hypotheses for future studies.

SUMMARY: In Australia, Ross River virus (RRV) is predominantly identified and managed through passive health surveillance. Here, the proactive use of environmental datasets to improve community-scale public health interventions in southeastern Tasmania is explored. Known environmental drivers (temperature, rainfall, tide) of the RRV vector Aedes camptorhynchus are analysed against cumulative case records for five adjacent local government areas (LGAs) from 1993 to 2009. Allowing for a 0- to 3-month lag period, temperature was the most significant driver of RRV cases at 1-month lag, contributing to a 23·2% increase in cases above the long-term case average. The potential for RRV to become an emerging public health issue in Tasmania due to projected climate changes is discussed. Moreover, practical outputs from this research are proposed including the development of an early warning system for local councils to implement preventative measures, such as public outreach and mosquito spray programmes.