Andi
08-01-05, 12:32 AM
June 23, 2005
By KOMO Staff & News Services
UNDATED - A new study suggests some children may have a predisposition for post-traumatic stress disorder if their mothers were exposed to trauma while pregnant and developed PTSD.
When women are pregnant, their health is their baby's health. Now, post-traumatic stress expert Rachel Yehuda with the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center says that may be true of mental health too.
"Fear and trauma also result in a physical change in stress hormones that can affect the baby," Yehuda explained.
One year after the Sept. 11 attacks, Yehuda and her colleague collected saliva samples from 38 New York women who were pregnant on Sept. 11 2001, and their babies. Using the samples, they analyzed levels of the stress hormone cortisol in both the mothers' and children's bodies.
"We've tended to associate high levels of cortisol with stress, but one of the functions of cortisol and stress is actually a function that is restorative and protective," said Yehuda.
Yehuda's past research has shown that people with low cortisol levels are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
She and her team reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism that babies whose moms developed PTSD because of Sept. 11 had lower cortisol levels than babies whose moms did not. And, the children of PTSD moms who were in their third trimester had the lowest levels of all. Yehuda says that's evidence their mother's trauma may have affected them in the womb.
"So anytime you have a trimester effect, you're suspicious that this is in utero," she said.
Before she can be sure, Yehuda says the researchers still need to separate out the PTSD effect from other early childhood and genetic risk factors.
Yehuda plans to follow the study's children for several more years.
For More Information: www.sciencentral.com
http://www.komotv.com/healthwatch/story.asp?ID=37593
By KOMO Staff & News Services
UNDATED - A new study suggests some children may have a predisposition for post-traumatic stress disorder if their mothers were exposed to trauma while pregnant and developed PTSD.
When women are pregnant, their health is their baby's health. Now, post-traumatic stress expert Rachel Yehuda with the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center says that may be true of mental health too.
"Fear and trauma also result in a physical change in stress hormones that can affect the baby," Yehuda explained.
One year after the Sept. 11 attacks, Yehuda and her colleague collected saliva samples from 38 New York women who were pregnant on Sept. 11 2001, and their babies. Using the samples, they analyzed levels of the stress hormone cortisol in both the mothers' and children's bodies.
"We've tended to associate high levels of cortisol with stress, but one of the functions of cortisol and stress is actually a function that is restorative and protective," said Yehuda.
Yehuda's past research has shown that people with low cortisol levels are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
She and her team reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism that babies whose moms developed PTSD because of Sept. 11 had lower cortisol levels than babies whose moms did not. And, the children of PTSD moms who were in their third trimester had the lowest levels of all. Yehuda says that's evidence their mother's trauma may have affected them in the womb.
"So anytime you have a trimester effect, you're suspicious that this is in utero," she said.
Before she can be sure, Yehuda says the researchers still need to separate out the PTSD effect from other early childhood and genetic risk factors.
Yehuda plans to follow the study's children for several more years.
For More Information: www.sciencentral.com
http://www.komotv.com/healthwatch/story.asp?ID=37593