Self-Reported Cancer Rates in Two Rural Areas of West Virginia
with and Without Mountaintop Coal Mining
Michael Hendryx ? Leah Wolfe ? Juhua Luo ?
Bo Webb
(C) Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
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...
