NEW YORK, Nov 24, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Children of families displaced by
hurricanes Katrina and Rita are showing serious physical and mental health
issues, a U.S. hospital study indicates.
The report, released Monday by the New York's Children's Health Fund, reviewed
medical records of 261 children who lived in a federally funded Baton Rouge
trailer park until early summer, USA Today reported.
Forty-one percent of children younger than 4 were diagnosed with anemia, more
than double the rate of children living in New York City homeless shelters,
survey results indicated.
Other findings:
-- 55 percent of elementary-school-aged children had a behavior or learning
problem.
-- 42 percent of children were diagnosed with hay fever, and-or upper
respiratory infection.
-- 24 percent had a cluster of upper respiratory, allergic and skin ailments.
After Hurricane Katrina, the Children's Health Fund dispersed mobile clinics
throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast, including one outside Renaissance Village in
Baton Rouge, the largest Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer park in the
region, USA Today reported.
The Children's Health Fund used medical data gathered from that clinic to
conduct the survey, says Irwin Redlener, the study's author and organization
president.
This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would
undertake a long-term study of children who lived in federally issued trailers
and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi, hundreds of which were found to
have high levels of toxins, including formaldehyde.
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Copyright 2008 by United Press International