By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – For years following the events of September 11, 2001 in lower Manhattan, the disaster and its aftermath may have affected women and their babies who were not even conceived yet, according to a new study. Researchers found that among women who were rescue or recovery workers responding to the events of 9/11, or women who resided below Canal Street in the World Trade Center’s neighborhood, those with the most intense exposures to the disaster had doubled rates of preterm delivery and low birthweight babies over the next few years. “Associations between disaster exposure and adverse birth outcomes have been demonstrated repeatedly in the past,” said lead author Carey Maslow, deputy director of research for the World Trade Center Health Registry.