Katrina increased kids’ health complaints

WASHINGTON – Hurricane Katrina provoked increased complaints to doctors of pneumonia, bronchitis and other lower respiratory illnesses among 144 children studied in Mississippi, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the researchers said they could not determine the reason why.

They reported finding no difference in the patterns of visits to doctors by children who lived in disaster housing provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and those who did not. However, they said the findings could not be generalized beyond the small sample.

The study’s limited conclusions did not resolve broader concerns raised by health officials and pediatricians, who previously reported heightened complaints of breathing problems among children on the Gulf Coast after Katrina. Those experts had voiced suspicions about a link to elevated levels of formaldehyde found in FEMA-financed temporary housing.

“The issue of what, if any, effects did the hurricane – and the changes that occurred in its aftermath – have on the children of the Gulf Coast is one that we remain very much interested in,” said Ed Thompson, state health officer of Mississippi.

“People whose children were not part of the study can’t draw any conclusions, positive or negative, from it,” he said. “It did not answer whether exposure to indoor air contaminants, including formaldehyde, has any effect on health.”

The study was based on a review of medical charts and interviews of 144 children between 2 and 12 years old who were treated at Hancock Medical Center and four physician practices in Hancock County, Miss., between August 2004 and August 2007. Two-thirds of the children lived in FEMA housing.