Study - Areas Hardest Hit By Katrina & Rita Showed Up To 2X Normal Rate Of Stillbirth Post-Storm
EDIT
The two storms "not only destroyed vast amounts of property and infrastructure, but also imposed enormous costs in physical and/or psychological stress and injury," the paper said. "Compared with residents in Alabama and Mississippi, residents in damaged parishes in (the New Orleans area) were more likely to suffer the death of a loved one, property and income loss, housing adversity and/or physical illness or injury leading to higher prevalence of ... anxiety-mood disorders.
"Also, unlike other disasters where symptoms of the psychological distress and injury retreat in time, unresolved hurricane-related stressors in New Orleans led to increases in serious mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal (thoughts) long after (Hurricanes Katrina and Rita) occurred."
The study found that when adjusted for other health issues, the odds of fetal death were 1.4 times higher in parishes where 10 percent to 50 percent of the homes suffered severe damage, and 2.37 times higher in parishes where greater than 50 percent of the homes suffered severe damage, when compared to parishes where homes experienced no damage during the two storms.
"For every 1 percent increase in the destruction of housing stock, we observe a 1.7 percent increase in fetal death," the study concluded. "Of the 410 officially recorded fetal deaths in these parishes, between 117 and 205 may be attributable to hurricane destruction and post-disaster disorder." In the six parishes with the worst hurricane damage, with greater than 50 percent of homes sustaining severe damage, the report estimates that between 117 and 205 stillbirths may be attributable to the two hurricanes, equal to 17 percent and 31 percent of the 671 persons killed in those parishes during the storms.
EDIT
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/stillbirths_significantly_high.html#incart_river