London: Pregnant women in or near the World Trade Centre during the September 11 terrorist attacks may have passed on future mental or physical illness to their unborn children.
Researchers found an important marker for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the saliva of babies less than one-year-old who were born after the attacks.
The hormonal ripple effect was worst among unborn children in the last three months of pregnancy. Researchers believe it is the strongest evidence yet for very early risk factors for the development of stress problems in adult life.
Reduced levels of the hormone cortisol found in the children of Holocaust survivors in other studies might be explained by the stress of living with parents who were depressed or anxious as a result of being in concentration camps, or from hearing the stories of how their parents had suffered.
But the study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and Edinburgh University published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, suggests that biological traits are passed on. Scientists already knew that children of 187 women who were pregnant when they were caught up in the 9/11 attacks had lower birthweights than other infants. They asked 38 women to collect saliva samples from themselves and their babies.
Lower levels of cortisol were found in mothers who had symptoms of PTSD and in their babies, a transmission that had been suggested in laboratory tests on rodents.
“This is the first time it has been shown in such a powerful way in humans. It is extremely exciting,” said Jonathan Seckl, professor of molecular medicine at Edinburgh. “Of course, it (9/11) was a unique event.”   Rachel Yehuda, of Mount Sinai, the lead investigator, said the findings “suggest a larger role for very early environmental, genetic or genetic-environmental interactions than previously thought.”
Low birthweight is a risk factor for later heart disease, high blood pressure and insulin-resistance. The babies in this study will now be closely monitored for physical and mental health. Better understanding of how low levels of cortisol are linked to disorders might help to develop treatments.
Having PTSD or attention deficit hyperactive disorder might be a problem for a child in a maths class, but less so in a war zone, where it might be helpful to have “a streetwise, permanently scanning-the-horizon kid”, said Prof Seckl.  – Guardian
Last update on: 5-5-2005