3.5. Pregnancy

In the sample, 94 women were pregnant at the time of the disaster. To them an additional series of questions were asked. (See Annex). This was meant to test the hypothesis that the shock, possible injury and stress occasioned by the hurricane, might have adversely affected the outcome of their pregnancies.

Table 40: Reported Outcome of Pregnancy

Table 40 suggests that the disaster did not seem to induce miscarriages. This is interesting in view of the relatively large number of injuries reported by these women. Nine out of 94 said they had suffered injury at the time of the disaster, giving an injury rate of 96 per thousand. As with the rest of the population*, most of the injuries occurred outside. Five of the seven so injured were at least six months pregnant at the time.

* In general, the pregnant women did not seem to have different experiences of the disaster from the rest of the population. For example, the houses in which they lived suffered the same degree of damage as those of the rest of the population.

Two pregnant women from Roseau left the island after the disaster and delivered their babies abroad Such overseas deliveries may help to explain the alight decline in government birth registrations in the months following the disaster. (The average number of monthly births registered for January to August 1979 was 130, while the average number of monthly births for September 1979 to March 1980 was 118)