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Strenuous weather conditions could have adverse effects on an unborn child. According to new research coming out of Princeton University, "expectant mothers who dealt with the strain of a hurricane or major tropical storm passing nearby during their pregnancy had children who were at elevated risk for abnormal health conditions at birth."

Researchers traced birth and meteorological records from Texas for over 10 years and identified children whose mothers were in the path of a major tropical storm or hurricane during pregnancy. That information was compared to children whose mother did not experience a major weather event.

Researchers focused on eight hurricanes and tropical storms that hit any part of Texas between 1996 and 2008 and caused more than $10 million damage. The most damaging storms were Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, which caused more than $50 billion in damage and 40 deaths, and Hurricane Ike, which caused $19.3 billion in damage and 103 deaths.

According to the study, if a pregnant woman, during the last three months of the pregnancy, lived within 30 kilometers of a hurricane's path, their newborn had an elevated chance - up to 60 percent - of having abnormal conditions.

Increased risk was also found following exposure to weather-related stressors in the first trimester, while evidence was less clear for exposure in the second trimester. The researchers were able to isolate the impact of stress caused by the storm from other factors, such as changes in the availability of health care in a storm's aftermath.

"Probably the most important finding of our study is that it does seem like being subjected to stress in pregnancy has some negative effect on the baby, but that the effect is more subtle than some of the previous studies have suggested," said Currie, who conducted the study along with Maya Rossin-Slater, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Economics at Columbia University.

One potential cause of the health problems found in the study is an increase in stress hormones caused by the storm, which occurred in what is known as the neuroendocrine pathway."I think the takeaway finding is that it's worth doing more focused research on those pathways and looking for more subtle effects on the fetus than just looking at birth weight and preterm delivery," Currie said. "And it would be really great if we could follow over time and see what happens to children who are affected by these types of events." 

Previous studies show that poor mothers are exposed to more stressors. 

The study, which is described in a working paper circulated in May by the National Bureau of Economic Research, was supported by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.