Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117562

Lisa S. Weiss, MPH, MPhil, Center for Children's Environmental Health, Columbia University, 100 Haven Ave #25F, New York, NY 10032, 212-304-5594, lw28@columbia.edu, Virginia Rauh, ScD, Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, 60 Haven Avenue, B-116, New York, NY 10032, and Frederica Perera, DrPH, Columbia Center for Children's Enviornmental Health, Columbia University School of Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032.

There is growing evidence that maternal distress may have adverse effects on fetal growth. Evidence also suggests that exposure to the WTC disaster increased psychological distress among many subgroups of the population. Therefore, we assessed the impact of maternal distress on fetal growth (weight, length and head circumference) at birth among a cohort of infants born in 3 hospitals in downtown Manhattan between December 2001 and June 2002. Three hundred pregnant participants were included in this analysis. Birth outcomes were adjusted for other sociodemographic risks, including race / ethnicity, income and education levels, receipt of public assistance, and maternal hardship. Maternal distress, as measured using the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview (PERI demoralization scale), was positively independently associated with material hardship and life satisfaction scores. Women who received Medicaid were less likely to report higher levels of demoralization, even when controlling for income. Proximity to the WTC during pregnancy was not associated with maternal distress, nor was being in the first trimester on 9-11-01. Asian women reported lower levels of demoralization than other ethnic subgroups. Higher levels of demoralization were related to reduced birth length, but birth weight and head circumference were not significantly reduced when controlling for gestational duration. The association of distress with birth outcome in this population may allow us to further elucidate its effects on fetal growth, with implications for long-term development.

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