Harvard researchers report that babies born to mothers who were emotionally stressed during pregnancy have an elevated risk of developing asthma and allergies.The scientists, who studied 387 mothers and their infants, found bolstered levels of IgE expression in cord blood among infants whose mothers experienced higher level stress even when exposed to relatively low levels of dust mite during pregnancy. This indicates that mother’s stress during pregnancy magnified the effect of dust exposure on the child’s immune system such that the child’s immune response at birth may be altered even with lower levels of dust exposure in the home. The results held true regardless of the mother’s race, class, education or smoking history.

“While predisposition to asthma may be, in part, set at birth, the factors that may determine this are not strictly genetic. Certain substances in the environment that cause allergies, such as dust mites, can increase a child’s chance of developing asthma and the effects may begin before birth,”

“This research adds to a growing body of evidence that links maternal stress such as that precipitated by financial problems or relationship issues, to changes in children’s developing immune systems, even during pregnancy,” says study co-author, Rosalind J. Wright, MD, MPH.

“This further supports the notion that stress can be thought of as a social pollutant that, when ‘breathed’ into the body, may influence the body’s immune response similar to the effects of physical pollutants like allergens, thus adding to their effects.”

American Thoracic Society – May 18, 2008.

www.thoracic.org