The lingering health effects of the storm appear to have reached beyond impacts on mental health. Eighty percent of those surveyed said at least one adult in their household had a chronic health condition, and of these, 58 percent reported that the condition was worsening. Making matters worse, nearly half of those interviewed lacked health insurance.
But lead study author Dr. Lynn Lawry said access to mental health services is a crucial step -- one without which many of those affected will not be able to achieve other important steps toward a return to a normal life.
She added that the rates of those who are unable to access needed mental health services are perhaps the highest she has seen among all of the disasters she has studied in the past.
"We are learning that ... there is not a lot that has been done to address the mental health needs of those affected," she said.
Aside from the usual effects of lingering trauma, the situation may also be part of a vicious cycle in which those who lost their homes and livelihoods in the Katrina tragedy are less likely to be able to cope effectively with their mental health issues -- making true recovery of their former lives even less likely.
"You cannot achieve this without dealing with the mental health issue," Lawry said.
According to a recent editorial Lawry wrote in the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, conditions in Mississippi and Louisiana were already ripe for problems. Even before the 2005 hurricane season, Louisiana ranked dead last according to certain health and well-being indicators; Mississippi ranked 49th out of 50 states.
In the two states, approximately 1 in 5 people have no health insurance, and both states "rank in the top 5 for highest rates of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, crude death rates, and infant mortality," Lawry noted in her editorial.
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