Mothers' anxiety during pregnancy is associated with asthma in their children.

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). 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.