Quarter 1: December 9, 2020 – March 31, 2021
PA Health and Environment Studies: Study 1 (Childhood cancer case-control study)
Recently Completed
- During our first quarter of this contract, the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health successfully designed the research methodology—how the study data will be collected and analyzed—for the childhood cancer case control investigation.
- The research protocol, which includes the organization of the study, the research goals, the study process, and informed consent procedure—how participants will be voluntarily included in the study—have been approved by the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board (PRO#21020141, approval date: March 16th, 2021).
In Progress
- We are awaiting approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) for access to protected health information data regarding birth certificate, death certificate, and cancer registry files (submission date: March 29th, 2021).
- We are obtaining additional sources of environmental, exposure, and geospatial data that can be linked to residential location. This should provide us more detailed information about environmental contamination and potential human exposures that may be associated with hydraulic fracking, agricultural activities, and other local industries’ activities in the eight-county study area (Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland Counties).
- We are also convening an external advisory board to provide important guidance.
PA Health and Environment Studies: Study 2 (Asthma and birth cohort studies)
Recently Completed
- During the first quarter of this contract, the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health research team successfully designed the research methodology—how the data will be collected and analyzed—for the asthma and birth outcomes study investigations.
- The birth outcomes study procedures have been approved by the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board.
In Progress
- We are awaiting approval from PA DOH to access the birth records information.
- We are finalizing the asthma outcomes study procedures; approval by the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board is pending.
Additional Comments
The environmental, exposure, and census data we have can be linked to residential location. These data will be used to conduct a human health risk assessment in the eight-county study area focused on local environmental contamination sources of concern including unconventional natural gas development activities, hydraulic fracking, and superfund sites.