Women who are unduly stressed during pregnancy may pass on to their fetuses an increased sensitivity to allergen exposure and possibly future asthma risk, say researchers from Harvard Medical School. Harvard's Rosalind J. Wright says that a mother's stress during pregnancy can also influence her babies developing immune system. While animal studies suggest that the combination of stress and allergen exposure during pregnancy may magnify the effects on the immune system, this is the first human study to examine this directly.
In the study, Wright found increased levels of IgE expression (a marker of the child's immune response at birth) 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.
"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," said Wright. "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."
Wright concludes that when exposure to prenatal stress and allergens occur together, there is a magnified increase in risk, which supports the assessment of maternal psychological well-being along with other environmental factors as important parts of a prenatal health program.
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Source: American Thoracic Society
