Maternal stressed-affective factors during pregnancy affecting the
occurrence of childhood allergic diseases: Shanghai MCPC study
Abstract
Background: Allergic diseases in offspring are suggested to originate
from fetal life. The role of in-utero stress exposures in early
childhood allergic diseases development has not been completely
elucidated. We aimed to determine the effect of exposures to different
kinds of maternal stressed-affective factors during pregnancy on the
risk of childhood allergy during first 2 years of life. Methods: A
sample of 4178 children born in 2016-2018 from the Shanghai
Maternal-Child Pairs Cohort were included in this study. Indicators for
maternal stressed-affective factors included life events stress at early
and late pregnancy, respectively, and prenatal depression and anxiety at
late pregnancy, which were measured by the Life Events Scale for
Pregnant Women (LESPW), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Center for
Epidemiologic Studies, Depression Scale (CES-D). The children’s allergic
diseases or manifestations were assessed through the questionnaires at
2,6,12,24 months after birth, respectively, including eczema, atopic
dermatitis, food allergy, wheezing, asthma, and allergic rhinitis. The
impacts of maternal stressed-affective factors on child allergic
diseases were analyzed using multivariable binary logistic regression
adjusting for potential covariates. Results: During the first 2 years of
life, all forms of allergic disease were continuously reported, with
allergic diseases of skin preceded the development of other atopic
diseases. Children whose mothers had high life events stress during the
early pregnancy or the late pregnancy would have an increased risk of
eczema at 2 months respectively (AdjOR:1.30, 95%CI:1.01-1.67;
AdjOR:1.64, 95%CI:1.14-2.36). Children whose mothers with high life
events stress in late pregnancy were also more likely to have food
allergy at 6 months (AdjOR:3.22, 95%CI:1.27-8.12). Maternal prenatal
anxiety may lead to offspring’s childhood wheeze at 24 months
(AdjOR:2.15, 95%CI:1.09-4.27). Conclusions: Maternal stressed-affective
factors could have effects on offspring’s allergic diseases, especially
eczema at 2 months. Understanding the temporal-specific effects of
maternal stressed-affective factors may better inform prevention
strategies.