The Washington Post (9/27, Gibson) reports research indicates that “children who were exposed to Sandy, a superstorm, while in utero had substantially increased risks for depression, anxiety and attention-deficit and disruptive behavior disorders,” symptoms of which “presented when the children were preschool-age.” The study revealed that “girls who were exposed to Sandy in utero experienced a 20-fold increase of generalized anxiety disorder and a 30-fold increase of depressive disorder, compared with girls who were not exposed to the storm,” while boys exposed to Sandy in utero were found to be “at an over 60-fold increased risk to develop” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “a 20-fold increased risk to develop conduct disorder and a 15-fold increased risk to develop oppositional defiant disorder.” The findings of the 163-child and 151-parent study were published online Sept. 21 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
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