Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Responsible For Increasing Number of Stillbirths In Worst Hit Areas

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may have been responsible for half of the stillbirths that took place in the worst hit areas like Louisiana, a new study finds.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were two of the costliest and intense hurricanes ever recorded. Hurricane Katrina struck the state of Louisiana, Aug. 29, 2005, followed by Hurricane Rita a month later on September 24. The displacement of people whose homes and way of life were destroyed due to these hurricanes increased the number of stillbirths by quite a significant margin, researchers of a new study found.

According to statistics provided in the study report, both these hurricanes caused property damages in about 38 out of 64 areas in Louisiana, affecting more than 205, 000 housing units. Taking into account this information, the researchers looked into how these losses affected pregnancies in that area. They looked into the odds of stillbirths 20 months before the hurricanes struck and 20 months after.

After studying birth data of the state from between 1999 and 2009, they found that 5,194 stillbirths were recorded during this period.

The researchers found that risk of a pregnancy ending in a stillbirth was 40 percent higher in regions where 10-50 percent of housing stock had been damaged, and more than twice as high in areas where over 50 percent of the housing stock had taken a hit.

After taking into account all the other risk factors, researchers noted that every one percent rise in housing stock damage increased the risk of stillbirth by 7 percent.

The findings of this study are very important because scientists have warned of frequent high intensity hurricanes in the future due to climate change.

"Insofar as our empirical findings meaningfully generalize in time, the health risks to the unborn and their prenatal development will likely increase with more frequent and intense hurricanes," the researchers said in a statement.

The study was published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

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