Study: Sderot rocket attacks increased miscarriages
The terrorist rocket bombings from Gaza on Sderot last
year significantly increased the risk of miscarriages among couples in the
development town, according to a new study published in the Psychosomatic
Medicine Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine.
In an article by Dr. Tamar Wainstock, Dr. Liat Lerner-
Geva, Saralee Glasser, Dr. Ilana Shoham-Vardi and Dr. Eyal Anteby of Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, the Gertner
Institute at Tel Hashomer and Tel Aviv University, it was shown that women
exposed before conception and during pregnancy to the bombings were more likely
to lose their fetuses than women in other locations who were not exposed to the
attacks.
The team compared 1,341 pregnancies of women (exposed
group) who resided in Sderot with 2,143 pregnancies of women who lived in
Kiryat Gat (unexposed group), which was out of range of the missiles. Among
women residing in the exposed town, the number of weekly alarms during the six
months before conception was 2.2 (with a range of 0 to 15.3). During pregnancy,
the mean weekly alarm rate was 3.5 with a range of 0 to 31.
The study found that exposure to rocket attacks increased
the risk of spontaneous abortion by 59 percent, compared to women not
experiencing this stress during or before pregnancy (6% in Sderot, compared
with 4.7% in Kiryat Gat).
Sderot has been a constant target of rocket firing from
the Gaza Strip since 2001, the authors wrote. The rocket attacks are preceded
by a warning alarm that informs residents to seek shelter. These alarms are
loud, sudden as well as stress inducing because they are sounded only few
seconds before the rocket hits the town. Between April 2001 and December 2008,
more than 1,000 alarms were sounded in or near Sderot – 500 during 2008 alone.
Rockets fell and exploded within the town, killing residents and causing
property damage.
The researchers also found that among the residents of
Sderot those with both the lowest and highest level of exposure to rocket
alarms during pregnancy had higher risk for miscarriage than those with
intermediate exposure.
Researchers suggested that this finding might be
explained by the release of cortisol, a known stress hormone, the authors wrote.
“However, as the number of alarms intensified, the risk
was elevated again possibly with increased cortisol level, or alternatively,
with reduced cortisol level, as found in post-traumatic stress disorders, which
itself may increase the risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes.”
They noted that psychological stress has been associated
with decreased fertility in men, as expressed by low sperm quality in stressful
occupational settings and under stress associated with war. Decreased male
fertility has also been associated with early pregnancy loss. they continued.
Because in the new study population, both men and women were exposed, it is
possible that exposure by the fathers to stress combined with with the mothers’
stress before conception as well as during pregnancy.
Comments
Post a Comment