最新研究表明：
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009 Apr;123(4):847-53.e11.
Mothers' anxiety during pregnancy is associated with asthma in their children.
Cookson H, Granell R, Joinson C, Ben-Shlomo Y, Henderson AJ.Department of Internal Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Australia.
BACKGROUND: Maternal stress in early life has been associated with the development of asthma in children, although it is unclear whether there are any critical periods of exposure. The association of asthma with prenatal exposure to maternal stress has not been reported. OBJECTIVE: We tested whether prenatal and postnatal anxiety and/or depression in pregnant women predicted the risk of their offspring developing asthma in childhood. METHODS: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children is a population-based birth cohort recruited during pregnancy. Data were available on maternal anxiety scores and asthma at age 7(1/2) years in 5810 children. Anxiety was assessed at 18 and 32 weeks of gestation by using the validated Crown-Crisp Experiential Index. Asthma was defined at age 7(1/2) years as doctor-diagnosed asthma with current symptoms or treatment in the previous 12 months. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the association of prenatal anxiety with asthma (odds ratio; 95% CI). RESULTS: Independent of postnatal anxiety and adjusted for a number of likely confounders, there was a higher likelihood of asthma at age 7(1/2) years (odds ratio, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.25-2.17) in children of mothers in the highest compared with lowest quartile of anxiety scores at 32 weeks of gestation, with evidence for a dose-response (P value for trend <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal anxiety symptoms as an indicator of stress during fetal life may program the development of asthma during childhood.
Wellcome Trust有专门的报道，我实际上是从那边看到的消息。
Pregnant women experiencing high levels of anxiety run a higher risk of their child developing asthma, according to Trust-funded researchers.
A study by scientists at the University of Bristol has found that the higher the level of anxiety in an expectant mother, the higher the likelihood that their child developed asthma.
Asthma is a common health problem in the UK, costing the NHS an estimated £817 million a year. Many people develop asthma in early childhood, but little is known about the causes. Previous studies have suggested high stress levels in parents may increase the risk of a child developing disease.
In this study, researchers analysed data from 5810 mothers and children who took part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), core-funded by the Trust, which has followed more than 14 000 people for 15 years.
The researchers measured the level of anxiety in expectant women when they were 18 and 32 weeks pregnant. They then looked for diagnosis or signs of asthma in their children when they reached the age of seven-and-a-half.
The study revealed a strong link between the two, with a higher incidence of asthma in children born to women with the highest anxiety scores at the 32 week stage.
Further studies are needed to work out the exact mechanism, but the researchers suggest that stress may affect genes related to asthma or immune system development through epigenetic changes - alterations to the way genes are expressed, which are often caused by environmental factors and can be inherited.
"It would be presumptive to suggest a clinical intervention on the basis of our findings," said John Henderson, from the University of Bristol and who led the research.
"But there are current approaches to psychological management of stress during pregnancy, which is after all a physiological response of women to their environment."
"If our findings are replicated, a trial of stress reduction and follow up of the children to look at immune development and wheezing or asthma would be attractive."
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