Anxious pregnant women more likely to have asthmatic children, study shows

Bristol, October 8: Expectant mothers with high stress levels are 65% more likely to give birth to children that will suffer from asthma as they grow, than those expectant mothers having low stress levels, a study presented at the Annual Congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) in Berlin shows.

The study team, led by Dr. Raquel Granell of the Department of Social Medicine at the University of Bristol, hypothesized that stress suffered by pregnant women is connected to pediatric asthma.

To prove this hypothesis, the team studied a sample of 5,800 pregnant women from the county of Avon which were scheduled to give birth from April 1, 1991 to December 31, 1992. To assess the anxiety experienced by these women, they were given questionnaires at their 18th and 32nd week of pregnancy. The women were then divided into four groups based on the level of anxiety they had, as reflected by their answers to the questionnaires.

The children of the women in the sample were assessed for asthma when they turned 7.5 years old through questionnaires answered by the mothers. For better evaluation, the children were also assessed at the clinical level through testing for bronchial hyperactivity when they reached 8 years old. Skin prick tests were also done to identify if the child’s asthma was of allergic origin and which allergens caused the reaction.

The results of the study showed that 13% of the children developed asthma. The study also showed that women who had very high stress levels at 18 weeks of pregnancy had a 53% risk of asthma in their children and those who had very high stress levels at 32 weeks of pregnancy had as much as a 65% risk of asthma in their children. These results proved Dr. Granell and her team’s hypothesis that stress during pregnancy predisposes the unborn child to developing asthma.

Dr. Granell’s team, while at the Annual Congress of the ERS, also showed that asthma developed by children with stressed mothers occurs more likely due to hormonal imbalances than an allergic reaction. This is supported by other researchers’ studies that showed a directed relationship between anxiety during pregnancy and the children having disrupted cortisol levels. Cortisol is commonly known as the stress hormone.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition wherein there is an inflammation and constriction of the airways which cause cough and difficulty in breathing. The cause of this condition is not yet fully understood but it is believed to be caused by genetic and environmental factors. Asthma is one of the leading chronic conditions found in children with 1/3rd of all people diagnosed being under 18 years of age.