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Southeast
Kansas Health Study
III. Narrative Statement
During
public hearings in 1995 and 1996 on the permitting of Ash Grove Cement
Company in Chanute, Kansas, residents expressed concern over the
possible health effects of four hazardous waste combustors operating in
the area. To respond to these concerns, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency commissioned the University of Kansas Medical Center
to conduct a health study to determine if environmental releases from
hazardous waste burners and other industries in the cities of Chanute,
Coffeyville, Fredonia, and Independence, Kansas, could be associated
with health problems in these communities.
This document outlines the final protocol of a study to evaluate human health
and air quality in these four communities and a control community of
Sedan, Kansas, to ascertain whether or not an association exists between health problems in the
communities and environmental factors. The study has three components:(1) a respiratory health survey and medical evaluation; (2) an
epidemiological investigation of cancer incidence and mortality rates;
and (3) an environmental assessment that includes the review of existing
air monitoring data from the study communities, and the collection and
analysis of ambient air samples from study and control communities over
a one-year period during the study.
(The detailed environmental monitoring assessment plan is
attached to this document as Appendix A.)
The study's respiratory health component includes administering health
questionnaires to randomly chosen households in the study and control communities.
Based on the returned questionnaires as well as patient
information collected from hospitals in the study and control
communities on emergency room visits for acute respiratory illness,
individuals who appear to be at elevated risk for adverse respiratory
outcomes will be identified, and a sample group of approximately 250
individuals will be randomly selected to participate in a one-year
respiratory health medical evaluation.
Tally sheets also will be kept on inhaler use in schools in the
study and control communities for a one-year period during the study.In the final phase of the study, all respiratory health data
collected for the study and control communities will be compared, and
environmental and medical data will be examined for associations between
environmental factors and adverse respiratory outcomes.
The epidemiological investigation of cancer incidence and mortality rates
builds upon an earlier preliminary epidemiological study of pediatric
cancers in the area performed by the Kansas Department of Health and
Environment
This follow-on study will evaluate cancer incidence and mortality rates in
the study and control areas. Data for this portion of the study will be abstracted from the vital records
section of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas
Cancer Registry, and the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance,
Epidemiology and End Result (SEER) program. The cancer incidence and mortality rates of the study and control
counties will be compared and then examined in relation to environmental
data on toxic agents of exposure in air to residents of the study areas. Data on cancer incidence and prevalence will also be obtained
from a portion of the respiratory health questionnaire.
Comparison
will be made between exposed and control counties and communities.
Investigators also will conduct literature reviews of these toxic
agents to identify their level of risk with respect to causing cancer in
humans.
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The University of Kansas Medical Center