Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Exposures and Long-term Self-rated Health Effects Among Parents in Coastal Louisiana

Purpose: To assess whether exposure to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) was related to parents’ self-rated health over time. Design: 3 waves of panel data were drawn from the Gulf Coast Population Impact study (2014) and Resilient Children, Youth, and Communities study (2016, 2018). Setting: Coastal Louisiana communities in high-impact DHOS areas. Participants: Respondents were parents or guardians aged 18 - 84, culled from a probability sample of households with a child aged 4 to 18 (N = 526) at the time of the 2010 DHOS. Measures: Self-rated health was measured at each wave. Self-reported physical exposure to the DHOS, economic exposure to the DHOS, and control variables were measured in 2014. Analysis: We used econometric random effects regression for panel data to assess relationships between DHOS exposures and self-rated health over time, controlling for potentially confounding covariates. Results: Both physical exposure (b = −0.39; P < 0.001) and economic exposure (b = −0.34; P < 0.001) to the DHOS had negative associations with self-rated health over the study period. Physical exposure had a larger effect size. Conclusion: Parents’ physical contact with, and economic disruption from, the 2010 DHOS were tied to long-term diminished health.