Journal
JOURNAL OF ALLERGY AND CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY
Volume 133, Issue 1, Pages 59-+Publisher
MOSBY-ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2013.04.044
Keywords
Anxiety; asthma; child; preschool; child development; cohort studies; depression; prospective studies; stress; psychological
Categories
Funding
- Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development [ZonMw 90700303, 916.10159]
- European Respiratory Society/Marie Curie Joint Research Fellowship [MC 1226-2009]
- European Respiratory Society
- European Community [RESPIRE, PCOFUND-GA-2008-229571]
- seventh framework programme, project CHICOS [HEALTH-F2-2009-241504]
- European Science Foundation
- Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam
- Erasmus University, Rotterdam
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Background: Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy might affect fetal lung development and subsequently predispose children to childhood asthma. Objective: We sought to assess the associations of maternal psychological distress during pregnancy with early childhood wheezing. Methods: We performed a population-based prospective cohort study among 4848 children. We assessed maternal and paternal psychological distress at the second trimester of gestation and 3 years after delivery and maternal psychological distress at 2 and 6 months after delivery by using the Brief Symptom Inventory questionnaire. Wheezing in the children was annually examined by using questionnaires from 1 to 4 years. Physician-diagnosed ever asthma was reported at 6 years. Results: Mothers with psychological distress during pregnancy had increased odds of wheezing in their children from 1 to 4 years of life (overall distress: odds ratio [OR], 1.60 [95% CI, 1.32-1.93]; depression: OR, 1.46 [95% CI, 1.20-1.77]; and anxiety: OR, 1.39 [95% CI, 1.15-1.67]). We observed similar positive associations with the number of wheezing episodes, wheezing patterns, and physician-diagnosed asthma at 6 years. Paternal distress during pregnancy and maternal and paternal distress after delivery did not affect these results and were not associated with childhood wheezing. Conclusion: Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy is associated with increased odds of wheezing in their children during the first 6 years of life independent of paternal psychological distress during pregnancy and maternal and paternal psychological distress after delivery. These results suggest a possible intrauterine programming effect of maternal psychological distress leading to respiratory morbidity.
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