Stressed Out Moms More
Likely to Have Kids with Asthma
Jan. 16, 2008 — Children whose mothers are chronically stressed during their early years have a higher asthma rate than their peers, regardless of their income, gender, or other known asthma risk factors.
This is the first study of a non-high-risk group of children to report an association with childhood asthma.
The findings appeared in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
"It is increasingly clear that traditional environmental risk factors do not fully explain the origins of asthma," says lead investigator, Anita Kozyrskyj, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba, Canada.
Dr. Kozyrskyj and her colleagues analyzed the medical records of nearly 14,000 children born in Manitoba in 1995 who were continuously registered with Manitoba Health Services until 2003.
They determined whether the children had current asthma at age seven by analyzing records of doctor visits, hospitalizations, and medications in the year of the child's seventh birthday, and related it to maternal distress as defined by the same criteria (visits and medications), but for depression and anxiety — instead of asthma.
Stress Outweighed Traditional Risk Factors
Even after controlling for the known risk factors of male gender, maternal asthma, urban location, and total health care visits, long-term maternal stress was associated with an increase of nearly a third in the prevalence of childhood asthma.
The study also found that the risk of asthma associated with maternal stress was worse in high-income households and in households with more than one child. These children were more at risk of developing asthma than others in the study.
Is Depression Part of the Problem?
The mechanisms for how maternal distress causes asthma are not well understood. Depressed mothers are more likely to smoke and less likely to breastfeed — actions which are associated with the development of asthma.
However, research has also suggested that depressed mothers are also less likely to interact with their infants.
Animal studies indicate that decreased attentiveness from the mother affects the infant's stress and immune response, but the same effect in humans has not yet been definitively demonstrated.
Study Limitations
"Our maternal distress measure captured women who sought health care for their depression and anxiety, and thus, our findings may be limited to more severe depression and anxiety," says Dr. Kozyrskyj.
"We plan to further explore the role of postpartum distress by doing a similar study which will link health care records with public health nurse assessments of depression and anxiety from a provincial postnatal screening program. This will enable us to assess the effects of less severe depression and anxiety during the postpartum period."
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Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine - Continued Exposure to Maternal Distress in Early Life Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Childhood Asthma
American Lung Association - Asthma
American Psychological Association
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
National Asthma Education and Prevention Program
NIH - Asthma
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