Epidemiology and health care deliveryPrenatal fine particulate exposure and early childhood asthma: Effect of maternal stress and fetal sex
Section snippets
Study participants
Subjects were from the Asthma Coalition on Community, Environment and Social Stress project, a pregnancy cohort originally designed to examine the effects of both chemical and nonchemical exposures on urban childhood asthma risk.18 Briefly, English- or Spanish-speaking women receiving prenatal care at 2 Boston hospitals and affiliated community health centers were recruited at 28.4 ± 7.9 weeks' gestation between August 2002 and July 2009. Of those approached and deemed eligible, 989 (78.1%)
Results
Mothers were largely ethnic minorities (black 30%, Hispanic 54%) with 12 or less years of education (66%) (Table I). Median maternal age at enrollment was 26 years (interquartile range [IQR], 22-31). Most mothers were nonsmokers (86%) and nonobese (72%). There were 110 asthma cases (15%). Boys were more likely than girls to be diagnosed with asthma (18 vs 12%; χ2 test P = .02). Children born to mothers with high prenatal maternal stress (NLE ≥ 3 [n = 308] vs NLE < 3 [n = 428]) were more likely
Discussion
These analyses combine highly temporally resolved ambient PM2.5 exposure estimates with advanced statistical modeling to determine susceptible windows of exposure to asthma and identify higher-risk subgroups. This is the first study to prospectively demonstrate synergistic effects of prenatal maternal stress and PM2.5 exposure on childhood asthma risk. Children born to mothers reporting elevated stress in pregnancy and with higher PM2.5 exposures between 19 and 23 weeks' gestation were
References (39)
- et al.
Long term effects of prenatal and postnatal airborne PAH exposures on ventilatory lung function of non-asthmatic preadolescent children. Prospective birth cohort study in Krakow
Sci Total Environ
(2015) - et al.
Lung development and fetal lung growth
Paediatr Respir Rev
(2004) - et al.
The relation between psychological factors and DNA-damage: a critical review
Biol Psychol
(2006) - et al.
Ambient air pollution, birth weight and preterm birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Environ Res
(2012) - et al.
Quantitative computed tomography-derived clusters: redefining airway remodeling in asthmatic patients
J Allergy Clin Immunol
(2014) Developmental biology of the pulmonary circulation
Paediatr Respir Rev
(2005)- et al.
Sex-specific perinatal nicotine-induced asthma in rat offspring
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol
(2013) - et al.
A new hybrid spatio-temporal model for estimating daily multi-year PM2.5 concentrations across northeastern USA using high resolution aerosol optical depth data
Atmos Environ
(2014) - et al.
Programming of respiratory health in childhood: influence of outdoor air pollution
Curr Opin Pediatr
(2013) - et al.
Air pollution during pregnancy and lung function in newborns: a birth cohort study
Eur Respir J
(2009)
Association of improved air quality with lung development in children
N Engl J Med
Prenatal and postnatal maternal stress and wheeze in urban children: effect of maternal sensitization
Am J Respir Crit Care Med
Prenatal and postnatal stress and asthma in children: temporal- and sex-specific associations
J Allergy Clin Immunol
Chronic traffic-related air pollution and stress interact to predict biologic and clinical outcomes in asthma
Environ Health Perspect
Parental stress increases the detrimental effect of traffic exposure on children's lung function
Am J Respir Crit Care Med
Prenatal particulate air pollution and asthma onset in urban children: identifying sensitive windows and sex differences
Am J Respir Crit Care Med
Oxidatively generated DNA/RNA damage in psychological stress states
Danish Med J
The sex difference in fetal lung surfactant production
Exp Lung Res
Does lung development differ in male and female fetuses?
Exp Lung Res
Cited by (124)
Associations of prenatal ambient air pollution exposures with asthma in middle childhood
2024, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental HealthDiesel exhaust particles inhibit lung branching morphogenesis via the YAP/TAZ pathway
2023, Science of the Total EnvironmentSex-differences in the effects of indoor air pollutants and household environment on preschool child cognitive development
2023, Science of the Total Environment
The Asthma Coalition on Community, Environment, and Social Stress (ACCESS) project has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH; grant nos. R01 ES010932, U01 HL072494, and R01 HL080674 to R.J.W., principal investigator), and phenotyping and biostatistical support was funded by NIH grant numbers P30 ES023515, P30 ES000002, and T32 ES007142. During the preparation of this manuscript, A.L. was supported by NIH grant number K23 HL135349 and M.J.R. was supported by NIH grant number T32 HD049311-09.
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: A. Lee, S. Bose, J. Schwartz, B. A. Coull, and R. O. Wright received grants from the National Institutes of Health for this work. The rest of the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.