Mothers' Anxiety During Pregnancy is Associated with Asthma in Their Children

Overview

Journal J Allergy Clin Immunol

Specialty Allergy & Immunology

Date 2009 Apr 8

PMID 19348924

Citations 85

Authors

Hannah Cookson

Raquel Granell

Carol Joinson

Yoav Ben-Shlomo

A John Henderson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Maternal stress in early life has been associated with the development of asthma in children, although it is unclear whether there are any critical periods of exposure. The association of asthma with prenatal exposure to maternal stress has not been reported.

Objective: We tested whether prenatal and postnatal anxiety and/or depression in pregnant women predicted the risk of their offspring developing asthma in childhood.

Methods: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children is a population-based birth cohort recruited during pregnancy. Data were available on maternal anxiety scores and asthma at age 7(1/2) years in 5810 children. Anxiety was assessed at 18 and 32 weeks of gestation by using the validated Crown-Crisp Experiential Index. Asthma was defined at age 7(1/2) years as doctor-diagnosed asthma with current symptoms or treatment in the previous 12 months. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the association of prenatal anxiety with asthma (odds ratio; 95% CI).

Results: Independent of postnatal anxiety and adjusted for a number of likely confounders, there was a higher likelihood of asthma at age 7(1/2) years (odds ratio, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.25-2.17) in children of mothers in the highest compared with lowest quartile of anxiety scores at 32 weeks of gestation, with evidence for a dose-response (P value for trend <0.001).

Conclusions: Maternal anxiety symptoms as an indicator of stress during fetal life may program the development of asthma during childhood.

Citing Articles

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