Mental problems triple after Katrina

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Hurricane Katrina increased New Orleans mental and physical problems three-fold -- worse than suffered after Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, researchers said.

Researchers at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, in partnership with the non-profit organization Heart to Heart International, interviewed 222 local residents 15 months after they survived the 2005 hurricane.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing, found some health problems tripled in the post-Katrina period, compared to a survey of Louisiana residents carried out before the hurricane.

"Our results add to the growing body of evidence that disaster survivors continue to suffer from poor mental and physical health for prolonged periods of time after the initial impact," lead researcher Son Chae Kim said in a statement.

"The health problem rates we recorded were considerably higher than those reported by Louisiana residents to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 2003 -- an on-going telephone survey tracking health conditions and risk behaviors in the United States every year since 1984."

The mental health problems appear to be worse than those reported five to 15 months after the Sept. 11, 2002, terrorist attacks, in which 33 percent reported having a day or more of poor mental health.