Pregnant mom’s stress may affect baby’s asthma risk

Stress during pregnancy may increase the risk of the baby developing asthma. Researchers studied 557 pregnant mostly ethnic minority women in cities, including Boston, Baltimore, New York, and St. Louis. Twenty percent lived below the poverty level. Each family completed a questionnaire asking about stress, such as domestic violence, money problems and community violence. After the births, the researchers took umbilical cord blood samples to test reactions to various allergens, such as dust and cockroaches, and viral and bacterial stimulants. The babies born to mothers reported to be more stressed had different immune cell responses when stimulated with various common environmental triggers compared to babies born to mothers reporting less stress. . read more.