The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published a longitudinal study that reported children in the womb during the 2012 Superstorm Sandy were at a higher risk of developing mental disorders.
Coming up on the 10th anniversary of Sandy, the horrific memories of the catastrophe that killed 48 New Yorkers and damaged almost 100,000 homes and edifices on Long Island are inevitable. Thousands were without power and housing for weeks— Sandy changed everybody’s lives, even the unborn.
The Stress in Pregnancy (SIP) Study is titled “The Infants of Superstorm Sandy: The Epigenetic and Developmental Impact of Natural Disaster.”
The longitudinal study was conducted on 163 preschool-age children— 66 were in-utero during the Superstorm and the remaining 97 were not. The basis of this study showed growing evidence of the linkage between in-utero exposure to natural disasters and behavioral issues and stress during pregnancy.
The mothers of the children resided in Queens or on Long Island in 2012, in towns where Sandy caused the most wreckage.
Researchers found that exposure to Sandy put these children at higher risk of developing depression, attention deficit/disruptive disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and separation anxiety disorder. Males are at higher risk for ADHD/ADD and ODD, unlike females, who are at higher risk of developing anxiety disorders, phobias and depressive disorders.
“We’ve known for some time that maternal stress during pregnancy plays a key role in the mental health development of the child,” said the study’s Principal Investigator, Yoko Nomura. “The SIP Study leveraged an unfortunate climate-related disaster and conducted a natural experiment to examine the impact of prenatal stress in utero on subsequent development and risks for developmental psychopathology during early childhood. Understanding these connections and distinctions grows more necessary every day with the increased frequency of natural disasters driven by climate change.”
The SIP Study helps researchers take the best course of action in assisting mothers to limit their stress levels during pregnancy, increase their understanding of critical periods of pregnancy and lessen mental health risks.
“Our ongoing study elucidates the impact of environmental stress on the psychiatric development of preschool children and the elevated risks for early psychopathology in this population,” said Jeffrey Newcorn, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and a co-author of the study. “Most strikingly, the type of mental health problems very much depended on the biological sex of the child.”
The children are about 9 years old today.
“We don’t have all the information on what happens to them” since their evaluations, Newcorn said.
This study leaves parents with questions after the impact of the 2019 pandemic and the recent Hurricane Ian that left parts of Florida in ruins.
