A risk factor for stroke that hasn’t been looked into much is the geographic concentration of economic sectors and their by-products.

Refining and processing petroleum creates a variety of contaminants that can seep into the ground, the air, and even the drinking water of nearby communities.

A new study shows that pollution from oil refineries is strongly linked to the number of strokes in the Southern United States.

The findings(10.1088/1748-9326/ac8943) were released today in the journal Environmental Research Letters from IOP Publishing.

The southern United States (US) has a large concentration of petroleum production and refining (PPR). This process produces a number of contaminants that have previously been associated with disorders that cause strokes. However, until today, there has been little research into the relationship between household PPR exposure and stroke risk.

“The geographic concentration of economic sectors, and their associated by-products,” as explained by lead author Honghyok Kim, “is an underexplored, plausible risk factor for stroke. 

“By-products of petroleum production and refining,” according to the author, “include a mixture of pollutants that may impact the quality of adjacent air, soil, and potable water in residential areas.”

In this new study, Yale University, Brown University, and Seoul National University researchers evaluated the relationship between petroleum exposure and the incidence of adult strokes.

The team examined locations within a 2.5 km or 5 km radius of petrol refineries using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Population-Level Analysis and Community EStimates (PLACES) for seven southern US states.

As a pollutant of PPR, sulphur dioxide, a substance that may raise the risk of stroke, is prevalent in certain regions. They discovered that 5.6% of adult strokes were caused by living close to oil refineries.

The prevalence of strokes varies by state, with Mississippi having the highest rate (11.7%), which may be explained by the presence of petroleum refineries there.

The prevalence of strokes varies further by census tract, with one in Texas having the greatest rate that may be attributed to gasoline refineries (25.3%).

The team also found that the increased number of strokes caused by PPR may depend on factors like age, gender, and race. People with lower socioeconomic status were disproportionately impacted since they frequently resided closer to petroleum facilities.

According to Kim’s conclusion, the results of the study have “the potential to inform both public health and environmental regulatory interventions to mitigate the potential health risks conferred by PPR exposure.”

Source: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac8943

Image Credit: Getty

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