• Mònica Guxens, Agnes M M Sonnenschein-van der Voort, Henning Tiemeier, Albert Hofman, Jordi Sunyer, Johan C de Jongste, Vincent W V Jaddoe, and Liesbeth Duijts.
• Generation R Study Group, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain; Hospital del Mar Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiologia y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain.
• J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2014 Jan 1;133(1):59-67.e1-12.

BackgroundMaternal psychological distress during pregnancy might affect fetal lung development and subsequently predispose children to childhood asthma.ObjectiveWe sought to assess the associations of maternal psychological distress during pregnancy with early childhood wheezing.MethodsWe 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.ResultsMothers 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.ConclusionMaternal 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.Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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