The immediate effects of natural disasters are well known. However, a recent study has found interesting long-term effects on health among those not yet born at the time of disaster, according to The Atlantic. Performed by the City University of New York using a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, this study sought to examine the effects of maternal stress and depression on fetal development and long-term psychological outcomes for infants.
Beginning in 2009, the study enrolled about 600 women in the New York city area, and expanded in 2012, coincidentally the same year that Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast. “The storm was horrible. The power was out and people were trapped in the basement of buildings. Those horrible things are really stressful. A mother can handle it, but the fetus is like a captive audience,” said Yoko Nomura, professor at Queens College and the Graduate Center at CUNY, as well as the study’s lead author, to The Atlantic.
Six months after giving birth, mothers enrolled in the study during Hurricane Sandy reported increased rates of distress among their babies, and lower rates of pleasure seeking, compared to babies born before the storm. While it’s not clear as to potential longer-term effects, the short-term differences are concerning, especially with increased frequencies of natural disasters
“The effects of a [natural] disaster are multifaceted,” said Asim Shah, a professor and the executive vice chair of the psychiatry department at the Baylor College of Medicine who has worked with survivors of Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina, to The Atlantic. “We don’t have the tools to address trauma from hurricanes and natural disasters.”
