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Increased motor vehicle crashes following induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety-inducing life events increase the risk of motor vehicle crashes. We test the hypothesis that earthquakes, known to increase anxiety in the population, also increase the incidence of motor vehicle crashes. Our study took place in Oklahoma, USA where wastewater injection resulted in increased induced seismicity between 2010 and 2016. We identified dates of earthquakes???magnitude 4 (a level felt by most people) with data from the U.S. Geologic Survey. The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office provided county-level monthly vehicle crash counts. We defined high, medium, and low earthquake exposure counties based on the location of earthquake epicenters. Using time-series analyses, we evaluated the association between monthly counts of ?magnitude 4 earthquakes and motor vehicle crashes by exposure group. Earthquakes???magnitude 4 took place in 38 of 84 study months, and a monthly average of 5813 (SD?=?384) crashes occurred between 2010 and 2016. In high-exposure counties, we observed an additional 39.2 motor vehicle crashes per each additional???magnitude 4 earthquake in the prior month (SE?=?11.5). We found no association between the timing of ?magnitude 4 earthquakes and motor vehicle crashes in the medium or low exposure counties. With a binary earthquake exposure variable, we found a 4.6% (SE?=?1.4%) increase in motor vehicle crashes in the high exposure counties in the month following 1 or more ?magnitude 4 earthquakes. Consistent with our hypothesis, there was no association between earthquakes of magnitude???2.5 and motor vehicle crashes in the high-exposure counties. This novel evidence of an association between induced earthquakes in Oklahoma and motor vehicle crashes warrants future research given the high economic and social costs of such vehicle crashes.

SUBMITTER: Casey JA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6214370 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Increased motor vehicle crashes following induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA.

Casey Joan A JA Elser Holly H Goldman-Mellor Sidra S Catalano Ralph R

The Science of the total environment 20181004 Pt 2

Anxiety-inducing life events increase the risk of motor vehicle crashes. We test the hypothesis that earthquakes, known to increase anxiety in the population, also increase the incidence of motor vehicle crashes. Our study took place in Oklahoma, USA where wastewater injection resulted in increased induced seismicity between 2010 and 2016. We identified dates of earthquakes ≥ magnitude 4 (a level felt by most people) with data from the U.S. Geologic Survey. The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office pro ...[more]

PMID: 30373073

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Project description:BackgroundThere is growing evidence that a range of pre-injury, injury related and post-injury factors influence social and health outcomes across the injury severity spectrum. This paper documents health related outcomes for people with mild, moderate and severe injury after motor vehicle crash (MVC) injuries in New South Wales, Australia.MethodsThis inception cohort study followed 2019 people injured in MVCs, for 6 and 12 months post-injury. We categorised moderate injury as hospital length-of-stay (LOS) of 2-6 days and Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 4-11, while severe injury as LOS ≥7 days or ISS ≥ 12. We examined differences in paid work status, 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF12), EQ-5D and World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS) outcomes longitudinally from baseline to 12 months between levels of injury severity using linear mixed models for repeated measures. We first considered minimally sufficient adjustment factors (age, sex, crash role, perceived danger in crash, pre-injury health, pre-injury EQ-5D, recruitment source), and then more extensive adjustments including post-injury factors. The presence of mediating pathways for SF-12 Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) via post-injury factors was evaluated.ResultsBased on hospital length of stay (LOS), 25 and 10% of participants sustained moderate and severe injuries, respectively, while 43 and 4% had these injuries based on ISS. Twelve months post-injury LOS ≥7 days versus ≤1 day was associated with an estimated 9 units lower mean SF12 PCS using a minimally sufficient adjustment model, and LOS ≥ 7 days was associated with a 3 units lower mean SF12 MCS score. Mediation analyses (LOS ≥ 7 days vs ≤1 day) found for SF12 MCS outcomes, effects of injury severity were small and mostly indirect (direct effect - 0.03, indirect effect - 0.22). Whereas for SF12 PCS outcomes the effect of having a more severe injury rather than mild were both direct and indirect (direct effect - 0.50, indirect effect - 0.38).ConclusionsIndividuals with severe injuries (those with LOS ≥ 7 days and ISS 12+) had poorer recovery 12 months after the injury. In addition, post-injury mediators have an important role in influencing long-term health outcomes.Trial registrationAustralia New Zealand Clinical trial registry identification number - ACTRN12613000889752 .

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Increased motor vehicle crashes following induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA.

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Increased motor vehicle crashes following induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA.

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