Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Self-Reported Cancer Rates in Two Rural Areas of West Virginia with and Without Mountaintop Coal Mining

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Community Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mountaintop coal mining in the Appalachian region in the United States causes significant environmental damage to air and water. Serious health disparities exist for people who live in coal mining portions of Appalachia, but little previous research has examined disparities specifically in mountaintop mining communities. A community-based participatory research study was designed and implemented to collect information on cancer rates in a rural mountaintop mining area compared to a rural non-mining area of West Virginia. A door–door health interview collected data from 773 adults. Self-reported cancer rates were significantly higher in the mining versus the non-mining area after control for respondent age, sex, smoking, occupational history, and family cancer history (odds ratio = 2.03, 95% confidence interval = 1.32–3.13). Mountaintop mining is linked to increased community cancer risk. Efforts to reduce cancer and other health disparities in Appalachia must focus on mountaintop mining portions of the region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Barnett, E., Halverson, J. A., Elmes, G. A., & Braham, V. E. (2000). Metropolitan and non-metropolitan trends in coronary heart disease mortality within Appalachia, 1980–1997. Annals of Epidemiology, 10, 370–379.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Barnett, E., Elmes, G. A., Braham, V. E., Halverson, J. A., Lee, J. L., & Loftus, S. (1998). Heart disease in Appalachia: An atlas of county economic conditions, mortality, and medical care resources. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Halverson, J. A., Ma, L., & Harner, E. J. (2004). An analysis of disparities in health status and access to health care in the Appalachian region. Washington, DC: Appalachian Regional Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Zerhouni, E. A., & Ruffin, J. (2002). Strategic research plan and budget to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities, Vol. 1. Fiscal years 2002–2006. USA: US Department of Health and Human Services.

    Google Scholar 

  5. McGarvey, E. L., Leon-Verdin, M., Killos, L. F., Guterbock, T., & Cohn, W. F. (2011). Health disparities between Appalachian and non-Appalachian counties in Virginia USA. Journal of Community Health, 36, 348–356.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Wingo, P. A., Tucker, T. C., Jamison, P. M., Martin, H., McLaughlin, C., Bayakly, R., et al. (2008). Cancer in Appalachia, 2001–2003. Cancer, 112, 181–192.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Hendryx, M. (2009). Mortality from heart, respiratory, and kidney disease in coal mining areas of Appalachia. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 82, 243–249.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Hendryx, M., & Ahern, M. (2008). Relations between health indicators and residential proximity to coal mining in West Virginia. American Journal of Public Health, 98, 669–671.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Hendryx, M., & Ahern, M. (2009). Mortality in Appalachian coal mining regions: The value of statistical life lost. Public Health Reports, 124, 541–550.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Hendryx, M., O’Donnell, K., & Horn, K. (2008). Lung cancer mortality is elevated in coal mining areas of Appalachia. Lung Cancer, 62, 1–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Zullig, K., & Hendryx, M. (2011). Health-related quality of life among central Appalachian residents in mountaintop mining counties. American Journal of Public Health, 101, 848–853.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hitt, N., & Hendryx, M. (2010). Ecological integrity of streams related to human cancer mortality rates. EcoHealth, 7, 91–104.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Esch, L., & Hendryx, M. (2011). Chronic cardiovascular disease mortality in mountaintop mining areas of central Appalachian states. Journal of Rural Health, (in press).

  14. Hendryx, M., Fedorko, E., & Anesetti-Rothermel, A. (2010). A geographical information system-based analysis of cancer mortality and population exposure to coal mining activities in West Virginia, United States of America. Geospatial Health, 4, 243–256.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Lengerich, E., Tucker, T., Powell, R., Colsher, P., Lehman, E., & Ward, A. (2005). Cancer incidence in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia: Disparities in Appalachia. Journal of Rural Health, 21, 39–47.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Skytruth. (2009). Mountaintop removal mining. Part 1: Measuring the extent of mountaintop removal in Appalachia. [updated 2009; cited April 21, 2010]; Available from: http://www.blog.skytruth.org/2009/12/measuring-mountaintop-removal-mining-in.html.

  17. Pond, G. J., Passmore, M. E., Borsuk, F. A., Reynolds, L., & Rose, C. J. (2008). Downstream effects of mountaintop coal mining: comparing biological conditions using family- and genus-level macroinvertebrate bioassessment tools. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 27(3), 717–737.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Palmer, M. A., Bernhardt, E. S., Schlesinger, W. H., Eshleman, K. N., Foufoula-Georgiou, E., Hendryx, M., et al. (2010). Mountaintop mining consequences. Science, 327, 148–149.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Environmental Protection Agency. (2010). EPA issues comprehensive guidance to protect Appalachian communities from harmful environmental impacts of mountaintop mining. 2010 [updated 2010 cited November 26, 2010]; Available from: http://www.yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/e77fdd4f5afd88a3852576b3005a604f/4145c96189a17239852576f8005867bd!OpenDocument.

  20. McAuley, S. D., & Kozar, M. D. (2006). Ground-water quality in unmined areas and near reclaimed surface coal mines in the northern and central Appalachian coal regions, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Reston, VA, USA: US Department of the Interior US Geological Survey.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mining Safety and Health Administration. (2010). Effects of blasting on air quality. Arlington, VA: US Department of Labor.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ghose, M. K., & Majee, S. R. (2007). Characteristics of hazardous airborne dust around an Indian surface coal mining area. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 130, 17–25.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Burns, S. S. (2007). Bringing down the mountains. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Goodell, J. (2006). Big coal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Ward, K. Manchin plans no investigation of coal, health. Charleston Sunday Gazatte-Mail. March 30, 2008.

  26. Smail, N. (2011). Manchin, Rockefeller, Capito speak out against EPA. 5 News. [updated 2011; cited March 06, 2011]; Available from: http://www.wdtv.com/index.php/home/local-news/5794-manchin-rockefeller-capito-speak-out-against-epa.

  27. Knezevich, A. Tomblin says he hasn’t looked at MTR birth-defect research. Charleston Gazette. July 13, 2011.

  28. Young, P. (2010). Annual coal report 2009. US energy administration. Washington, DC: US Department of Energy. [cited July 07, 2011]; available from http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/coal/acr/acr.pdf.

  29. NHIS. (2011). National Health Interview Survey, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [updated 2011; cited February 08, 2011]; Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/quest_data_related_1997_forward.htm.

  30. CDC. (2007). Behavioral risk factor surveillance system. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control. [updated 2007; cited September 24, 2010]; Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htm.

  31. Boffetta, P., & Nyberg, F. (2003). Contribution of environmental factors to cancer risk. British Medical Journal, 68, 71–94.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Boffetta, P. (2006). Human cancer from environmental pollutants: The epidemiological evidence. Mutation Research, 608, 157–162.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Bunnell, J. E., Tatu, C. A., Bushon, R. N., Stoeckel, D. M., Brady, A. M., Beck, M., et al. (2006). Possible linkages between lignite aquifers, pathogenic microbes, and renal pelvic cancer in northwestern Louisiana, USA. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 28, 577–587.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Il’yasova, D., & Schwartz, G. G. (2005). Cadmium and renal cancer. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 207, 179–186.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Guo, J., Kauppinen, T., Kyyronen, P., Heikkila, P., Lindbohm, M. L., & Pukkala, E. (2004). Risk of esophageal, ovarian, testicular, kidney and bladder cancers and leukemia among Finnish workers exposed to diesel or gasoline engine exhaust. International Journal of Cancer, 111, 286–292.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Tapio, S., & Grosche, B. (2006). Arsenic in the aetiology of cancer. Mutation Research, 612, 215–246.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Environmental Defense Fund. (2001). Diesel cancer risk dwarfs all other air toxics combined. Environmental Defense Fund. [updated 2001; March 06, 2011]; Available from http://www.edf.org/pressrelease.cfm?contentID=75.

  38. Wood, L. E. (2005). Trends in national and regional economic distress: 1960–2000. Washington, DC: Appalachian Regional Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Woolf, S. H., Johnson, R. E., & Geiger, H. J. (2006). The rising prevalence of severe poverty in America: A growing threat to public health. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 31, 332–341.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Shaw, M., Dorling, D., & Smith, G. D. (2006). Poverty, social exclusion, and minorities. In M. Marmot & R. G. Wilkinson (Eds.), Social determinants of health (2nd ed., pp. 196–223). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  41. USDA. (2010). Your food environment atlas. US Department of Agriculture. [updated 2010; cited August 06, 2010]; Available from: http://www.ers.usda.gov/foodatlas/.

  42. ARF. (2008). Area Resource File Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration.

  43. NCI. (2011). Cancer Survivorship Research. National Cancer Institute. [updated 2011; cited June 23, 2011]; Available from: http://www.cancercontrol.cancer.gov/ocs/prevalence/prevalence.html#survivor.

  44. Shanholtzer, B. A. (2010). Cancer prevalence and survivorship in West Virginia, 2009. HSC statistical brief no. 26. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Matthew Armistead, Peter Illyn, Allen Johnson, Kate Kirby, Michael McCawley, the volunteer interviewers, and other local volunteers who assisted in study activities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Medicine, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 9190, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

    Michael Hendryx & Juhua Luo

  2. West Virginia Rural Health Research Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Michael Hendryx, Leah Wolfe & Juhua Luo

  3. Coal River, WV, USA

    Bo Webb

Authors
  1. Michael Hendryx
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Leah Wolfe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Juhua Luo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bo Webb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Hendryx.

Additional information

Bo Webb—2010 Purpose Prize Winner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hendryx, M., Wolfe, L., Luo, J. et al. Self-Reported Cancer Rates in Two Rural Areas of West Virginia with and Without Mountaintop Coal Mining. J Community Health 37, 320–327 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-011-9448-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-011-9448-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation