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Stress during pregnancy may alter child's immune system
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Researchers have found that stress during pregnancy may increase the risk of asthma and allergy in the child.
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School recruited pregnant women from urban areas. The families were largely ethnic minorities, with 20% living below the poverty level, and the father or pregnant mother having a history of asthma or allergy. The 557 families answered questions about the various stressors in their lives, at home (including domestic violence), in their financial lives and in their neighborhoods (community violence).
When the infants were born, their cord blood was collected; isolated immune cells were stimulated with a number of factors (allergens like dust and cockroach, viral and bacterial stimulants) and then analyzed for the production of various cytokines as indicators of how the child’s immune system was primed to respond to the environment.
Previous studies have suggested that a mother’s stress during pregnancy may influence the offspring’s immune system. In this study, researchers investigated differences in immune function markers in cord blood of infants born to mothers in high stress environments and those born to mothers with lower stress. They found that the patterns of cytokines related to certain stimulants differed based on the level of stress mothers reported.
The research, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will continue as the infants grow to determine whether maternal stress levels do indeed have an effect on future asthma development.
Wright R. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010;doi:10.1164/rccm.200904-0637OC