(Ivanhoe Newswire) – A natural disaster can cause more than just physical damage. According to a recent study, assisted reproductive technology cycles from around the country show that both miscarriages and preterm births among ART patients increased in the months following Hurricane Katrina.

“Women were considerably more likely to miscarry, spontaneously abort, and preterm deliver before 37 weeks, as we defined it,” stated S.K. Jindal, PhD, Ob/Gyn and president of Reproductive Biology and Technology Society. However, these results were not solely based on Hurricane Katrina sites, which include Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida – the results were on a national level.

For the study, researchers looked at 104, 724 ART cycles reported six months pre- Katrina and post Katrina to the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology from across the country.

The research had three major findings. First, researchers found an equal birth rate of sex, males and females post Hurricane Katrina cycles. They also found that there was a significant association with preterm delivery and miscarriage on a national level following Hurricane Katrina.

“In regions that were directly affected, the preterm delivery rate and miscarriage rate was not significantly different, but it was elevated both post and pre-Katrina, and no gender disparity was seen following Hurricane Katrina in this country,” said Jindal.

Miscarriages within the first trimester elevated from 13 percent pre Katrina to 87 percent post Katrina . Singleton pregnancies were most likely to deliver pre-term post Katrina than they had before the storm. Pre-Katrina, there was a reported 22 percent pre-term delivery rate. On a national level, preterm delivery rate pre-Katrina was 10 to 12 percent and 19 percent post Katrina.

Some factors were not considered, such as the infertility rate, BMI, socioeconomic status, metabolic or endocrine condition of these women in terms of their health.

Moreover, only 12 percent of the pregnancies were from the disaster sites and showed no sex disparity; 49.5 percent boys and 49.5 girls.

Dr. Jindal suspects that certain factors such as stress may impact the fetus in utero.

“So of course to test that directly it’s a completely different question, you have to measure cortisol hormones and other genetic factors that come into play that can impact on a child- I would suspect that nationally women suffered a trauma and they imparted some sort of stress factor to the uterine environment, “ Dr. Jindal said.

“It is clear we still have a lot to learn about human reproduction. But this kind of study points out the importance that external factors can have on attempts to successfully initiate and carry a pregnancy to full term,” R.Stan Williams, MD, President of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology was quoted as saying.


SOURCE: The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, published online October 18, 2011