Children of Depressed Mothers Face a Higher Risk of Asthma

Pregnant women who suffer anxiety or depression may give birth to kids who have a greater risk of developing asthma, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Thorax.

Researchers said kids aged ten can be almost twice as likely to suffer asthma if their mom was distressed during pregnancy.

‘Children of women who suffered clinical distress during pregnancy are more likely to have poor lung function. ’

Hormones delivered by women in response to stress could affect their unborn child in the womb and modify lung development.

The study team selected 4,231 mothers and fathers and questioned them on distress feelings during and after pregnancy.

Nearly nine percent of women and just under four percent of men were clinically depressed, clinically anxious, or both.

The condition has been associated with many aspects of modern life, from air pollution to overly clean homes.

The latest study examined parents on whether their 10-year-old kids had ever been diagnosed with asthma or had suffered an asthma attack or been prescribed asthma medicine in the previous 12 months.

Among 3,640 kids where this information was available, almost six percent had asthma.

Children of mothers with clinical anxiety were 64 percent more likely to have asthma. Those whose mothers had depression were at 84 percent more risk of having the condition.

There was no connection between fathers' distress and depression, and anxiety and their children's asthma.

This implies that respiratory problems may be programmed in the womb rather than stressful factors in a child's upbringing.

Source: Medindia