Study compares residents before and after BP refinery explosion
GALVESTON, Texas - New research completed at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston concludes that people living near big chemical refineries in the Houston area could be facing a higher risk of stress-related illnesses.
According to Kristen Peek, left, the study's primary author and associate professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, little research has been conducted on changes in perceived health after an industrial accident. Using data from an ongoing health survey in Texas City, perceived health changes were examined after an explosion in 2005 at the BP refinery.
The results of this study suggest that an industrial accident has a potentially important influence on both the perceived mental and perceived physical health of individuals. Although most of the respondents in the surrounding area were not directly affected by the accident, they still experienced declines in perceived mental and physical health, Peek said.
Peek says it is rare in public health research to be able to examine the impact of acute events on health with comparable data collected both before and after an event. In this study, however, UTMB researchers were able to use preaccident and postaccident data to provide insight into the public health consequences of the deadly refinery accident in Texas City.
The researchers had been conducting a population-based survey on stress and health of 550 Texas City residents since July 2004. After the explosion, investigators attempted to resurvey the respondents from whom they had already collected data. From May to August 2005, researchers successfully reinterviewed 315 of those 550 respondents.
The sample of respondents was derived from 16 randomly selected neighborhoods located within a 12-mile square area that borders the petrochemical complex. The study was designed so that at any time the sample would be representative of the entire city.
Participating residents were interviewed in their homes. The survey measured demographic, behavioral, social and health indicators. Follow-up contact included both face-to-face and telephone interviews.
The mean changes in perceived mental and physical health before the accident, during the accident and after the accident were compared. Significant declines in both perceived mental and physical health were observed for the residents who were interviewed.
Analysis showed that residents of middle age, those with a lower education level or those who reported damage in their neighborhoods were associated with decreases in perceived mental health.
Residents with lower education levels, those who actually felt the impact of the explosion or who were closer to the explosion site at the time of the explosion were associated with decreases in perceived physical health.
These results indicate that both before the accident and during the accident variables such as education level and explosion impact are associated with decreases in perceived physical and mental health.
The study says technological (industrial) disasters and accidents are sometimes associated with greater anxiety and poorer mental health than natural disasters because individuals see them as preventable.
Previous disaster research has primarily focused on natural disasters and provided information on postdisaster health only, said Peek. UTMB researchers had the advantage of pre-event and postevent data to analyze, and the data allowed them to examine preaccident, within-accident and postaccident variables that were associated with perceived health declines.
The results from this study suggest that industrial accidents have a potentially important influence on both the perceived mental and physical health of individuals. Although most of the respondents in the surrounding area were not directly affected by the accident, they still reported declines in perceived health.
According to Peek, healthcare workers may be better able to target those who are at risk of health problems through a better understanding of risk factors that influence declines in health after a petrochemical accident.
The study, titled "Perceived health change in the aftermath of a petrochemical accident: an examination of pre-accident, within-accident, and post-accident variables," appeared in the February issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Coauthors of the study are Dr. Norma Perez, Dr. James Goodwin and Professor Daniel Freeman, all of UTMB, and University of North Carolina Professor Malcolm Cutchin.