Pregnancy and Stress

Do you believe in communal bereavement? This is the phenomenon in which society as a whole “reacts adversely to unsettling national events.” Case in point? A research group has reported that the fetal death rate of male babies increased in September 2001, just after 9/11. Furthermore, there was a lower birth rate of boys in December of 2001, which they also tie to communal bereavement.

The report was recently published in BMC Public Health by researchers from the University of California at Berkeley. Tim Bruckner led this study, pouring over fetal death data from the National Vital Statistics System. In September 2001 the number of male fetal deaths significantly surpassed expected death rates.

Looking at the published report, women who lost their male babies were six months pregnant in September. This is considered a stillbirth, as opposed to a miscarriage which occurs prior to 20 weeks. There were also fewer male births in December 2001.

Bruckner explained that “stressful times reportedly reduce the male birth rate.” This is similar to a study conducted in 2001 that noted some women who were under stress while pregnant had lower birth weight babies.

Many women go through stressful times during pregnancy. Some women more than others. But not every woman who experiences stress suffers from miscarriage or stillbirths. Physicians do not yet have an explanation for these differences.

During stressful times the brain will release several hormones including CRH. Women who have delivered low birth weight or premature babies have been reported to have high levels of CRH in their blood. CRH is also found in the placenta and uterus as a trigger for uterine contractions during delivery.

Is it possible national stress and CRH are related? Could this have caused a high rate of male fetal deaths in September, 2001? Or is there another factor that may have caused this, if at all? No doubt there will be more medical research on the topic, as well as on the possibility of national communal bereavement.