Infants born to women who developed posttraumatic stress disorder during pregnancy have, as their mothers do, unusually low concentrations of the hormone cortisol, researchers have found. That could partly explain why such children themselves face a high risk of developing the disorder, called PTSD.
Psychiatrist Rachel Yehuda of the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York and her colleagues studied 38 women who were pregnant on Sept.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.