Preterm Births and Other Infant Health Outcomes in Puerto Rico Following Hurricanes Irma and Maria - Project Summary: Category 5 Hurricane Irma passed Puerto Rico on September 6, 2017, causing
an estimated $1 billion in damage and 3 confirmed fatalities in Puerto Rico. Two weeks later, on
September 20, Hurricane Maria made direct landfall with sustained 175 mile per hour winds. Although
the evidence is limited, natural disasters have been shown to have consequences on infant health
outcomes. Based on perinatal health findings following previous natural disasters, expectant and new
mothers in Puerto Rico face many challenges including access to adequate prenatal care, increased
likelihood of stress, depression and anxiety, lack access to nutrition, pregnancy-induced hypertension
and gestational diabetes, and increase contact to environmental toxins and exposures. The
overarching goal of this proposed research is to examine associations between hurricane exposure
and recovery, and preterm birth and other infant health outcomes. Specifically, our proposed research
intends to collect information on expectant mothers’ hurricane and recovery experiences, including an
inventory of disaster related traumatic events, measures traumatic exposures, and frequencies of
severe experiences. We will compare these exposures to birth outcomes in their infants including
preterm birth, low birth weight, pre-eclampsia, fetal death, gestational diabetes and small and large
for gestational age. We will utilize current research infrastructure that is in place in Puerto Rico that
recruits pregnant mothers early in pregnancy and follows them throughout pregnancy until birth.
Puerto Rico Test site for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT) and Zika in infants and
Pregnancy (ZIP) studies have establish cohorts of pregnant women in Puerto Rico through
collaborations with several Federally Qualified Health Centers and private clinics. Our research
team’s long-standing rapport with these clinics allow for a unique opportunity for this research. By
utilizing the PROTECT and ZIP cohorts we will be able to take advantage of a strong baseline in
which we can compare out results to. Expectant and new mothers are a vulnerable part of the
population and need special consideration in preparing for future natural disasters in order to help
protect the public’s health from weather events. This study, although conducted in Puerto Rico, has
implications for populations in all hurricane prone areas in the United States the Atlantic and Pacific
regions.
