A study out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital with Harvard Medical School in Boston indicates that women who have stress during their pregnancy may have children with an increased risk of asthma.

Researcher, Dr Rosalind Wright of Brigham and Women’s hospital, said that this is the first study in humans that establishes differences in cord blood cytokine production. Cytokines are proteins in the body secreted by cells in the immune system that regulate inflammatory processes; asthma is the result of airway inflammation (often related to allergy).

The research showed that babies from mothers with higher pregnancy stress had differences in their cord blood in cytokines that could be associated with increased asthma risk later in life.

The findings tend to back up previous research showing children from disadvantaged communities or ethnic backgrounds have a greater asthma risk. Stress is increased for moms in disadvantaged communities due to lack of resources.

While it’s not completely clear how the mother’s stress during pregnancy can influence the baby’s immune system directly, this research suggests that the baby’s reactions to substances is heightened, right in the womb. In other words, the mom’s psychological stress is actually part of what might program the baby’s heightened immune response after it is born.

Source: EurekAlert; wikipedia