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Perinatal stress linked to asthma diagnosis in children
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Children are at an increased risk for developing asthma when exposed to stress in the perinatal period, according to research. Furthermore, girls were more affected by stress during the postnatal period and cumulative stress, while boys were more affected by stress during the prenatal period.
“These data show that both boys and girls are at increased risk of having asthma when exposed to higher stress in the perinatal period,” Alison Lee, MD, from the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, and colleagues wrote in their study.
“Thus clinicians should counsel pregnant women and young mothers on the role of psychological stress in this context; validation by a health care provider will raise awareness of the links between stress and physical health.”
Lee and colleagues evaluated 765 children for asthma by 6 years of age and their mothers’ perinatal stress, according to the abstract. The researchers scored negative life events — such as financial, legal, medical, relationships, home safety, community safety and issues pertaining to patients or others — with ratings of 0 points, 1 to 2 points, 3 to 4 points and 5 points or greater, with a higher point total indicating greater stress.
The researchers found for each level in the scale, there was a dose-response relationship prenatally (OR = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.06-1.79; P = .03), as well as postnatally (OR = 1.53; 95% CI, 1.16-2.01; P = 0.001) for boys, according to the abstract. There was also a significant postnatal trend among girls (OR = 1.60; 95% CI, 1.14-2.22; P = .005) and an increased odds ratio of receiving an asthma diagnosis in girls with a higher stress level (OR = 1.37; 95% CI, 0.98-1.91). – by Jeff Craven
Disclosure: Lee, R. O. Wright and R. J. Wright received grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Rosa is a paid consultant for the Environmental Protection Agency. Coull received grants from NIH and the Environmental Protection Agency.
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