Stress in pregnancy is risky for baby

It was discovered that women who being pregnant are stressed about money, relationships and other problems may give birth to babies predisposed to allergies and asthma. These findings were presented at a meeting of the American Thoracic Nation in Toronto. They suggest a mother's stress during pregnancy may gain lasting consequences to her child.

Dr. Rosalind Wright of Harvard Medical School in Boston said in a Statement that 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. He and his co-workers found mothers who were the most distressed during pregnancy were most likely to give birth to infants with higher levels of immunoglobulin E or IgE - an immune system compound. This was true even for those children whose mothers had only mild exposure to allergens during pregnancy.

Previous studies in animals showed that a mother's stress amplifies the effects of allergen exposure on the immune system of the developing offspring. The scientists wonder if they could find the same in humans...

For this aim they measured levels of IgE from the umbilical cord blood of 387 newborns in Boston. Child whose mothers had low exposure to dust mites in the home, but were the most stressed out still had high levels of IgE in their cord blood. This discovery that showed that stress increased the immune response to dust exposure. This was the thing irrespective of the mother's race, class, teaching or smoking history. Consequently, as researcher claimed, stress can be thought of as a social pollutant that, when 'breathed' into the pregnant woman’s body, may influence the body's immune response.

To some extent this study patterns recent discovery in children who have undergone stress by Dr. Andrea Danese of the University of London. Researchers there followed 1,000 general public in New Zealand from birth to the time of 32. They found children who had undergone maternal rejection, disagreeing discipline and sexual abuse and other kinds of maltreatment had twice the levels of inflammation in their blood even 20 years later. High levels of inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and immune cells increase a child's risk of heart disease and diabetes in future.

"Stress in childhood may modify developmental trajectories and have a long-term effect on disease risk," said Danese. He presented his findings on how early influences affect health and well-being last week at a conference in Chicago. The scientist also said maltreatment in childhood may impair the ability of glucocorticoids - hormones that inhibit inflammation - to respond to stress later in life, which could lead to depression and other psychiatric ills. He pointed out that children who have survived maltreatment should get an early start on preventive care for common adult diseases.