A mother to be’s stress during pregnany may increase the risk of asthma in the offspring, a new research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harward Medical School in Boston shows.
In the research, differences in immune function markers in cord blood between infants born to mothers in high stress environments and those born to mothers with low stress, was investigated. The study found marked differences in patterns that may be associated with asthma risk later in life.
The findings will be published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and according to Rosalind Wright, associate physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, “This is the first study in humans to show that increased stress experienced during pregnany in urban, largely minority women, is associated with different patterns of cord blood cytokine production to various environmental stimuli, relative to babies born to lower-stressed mothers.”
It has been known that asthma is more prevalent among ethnic minorities and among more disadvantaged urban communities, but the role of stress in asthma development has been poorly understood. To determine the transference of stress-mediated immune differences, the researchers recruited pregnant women in suburban areas with large groups of ethnic miorities and with high poverty levels. All the 557 mothers had a history of asthma in their families. The researchers did find that the patterns of cytokines (chemical messengers in the body that are involved in cell-to-cell communication) related to certain stimulant differed based on the level of stress the mothers reported.
Dr. Wright explains, “For example, while the debate continues as to whether primary sensatization to allergens begins before birth, these findings suggest the possibility that prenatal stress may enhance the young babie’s response to inhalant antigens (molecules that stimulate an immune system response) specifically those antigens that the fetus is likely to encounter more directly in utero, like dust mite.” She continues, “The current findings suggest that psychological stress is involved in programming of the infant immune response and that this influence begins during pregnancy.”
The research study will continue as the infants grow older, and will hopefully give us more insights to how the factors manifest in terms of the development of asthma and allergy in older children.
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