Abstracts
Project Ice Storm: Effects of Prenatal Stress on Children's Physical, Cognitive and Behavioral Development
David P. LaPlante1, Suzanne King, Alain Brunet
1Douglas Hospital Research Centre
david.laplante@douglas.mcgill.ca
Animal and human research has shown prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) is associated with physical, cognitive and behavioural impairments in the offspring. Shortcomings in the literature exist, however, that prevent an understanding of the mechanisms by which these effects occur and, thus, when and how best to intervene. Most importantly, experimenters cannot allocate stress randomly to pregnant women. Studies of natural disasters provide unique opportunities to study the effects of PNMS, in that their effects are randomly assigned to large numbers of women and can be assessed independently of the pregnant women's own personality traits. In January 1998 Quebec received 5 days of continual freezing rain leaving 3 million people without power for as long as 40 days. We recruited 224 women who were pregnant during the storm, or who became pregnant within 3 months after the storm and assessed their "objective" stressors (e.g., days without power) and "subjective" reactions (e.g., post-traumatic stress symptoms). Our analyses indicate that higher PNMS is related to poorer perinatal outcomes and differences in finger print and length development, lower 2- and 5.5-year IQ scores and increased behavioural problems at 4 and 5.5 years of age, particularly for 2nd trimester exposed children. Our findings have the potential to fill the gaps in the literature that prevent psychopathology researchers from making conclusions about the mechanisms through which prenatal stress increases risks and should help in the development of preventive interventions for pregnant women who have experienced stress or trauma.
2005-04-05 |
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