Medicine: Babies inherit 9/11 moms' stress

From the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism:

Pregnant women who witnessed the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 passed on biological signs of stress to their babies, researchers suggest.

Scientists from Edinburgh and New York say tests on infants when they were a year old showed they had low levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Their mothers also showed low cortisol levels, a sign someone is affected by PTSD the researchers say.

The researchers will follow the babies as the grow up to see if those with lower cortisol levels go on to develop psychological disorders when they are older.

A separate study by Columbia University Medical Centre researchers found one in three New York schoolchildren suffered mental disorders in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

And a quarter experienced one or more of six anxiety disorders in the six months directly after the terrorist outrage.