Better maternal quality of life in pregnancy yields better offspring respiratory outcomes: A birth cohort

Abstract

Background: It is suggested that maternal mental health during pregnancy may affect offspring immune and respiratory features, based on the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis.

Objective: To evaluate whether maternal quality of life (QoL) and depression during pregnancy leads to wheezing, asthma, and food allergy of the offspring at 3 years of age.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide, multicenter, prospective birth cohort study, Japan Environment and Children's Study. All variables were collected from questionnaires. Health-related QoL was measured using the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-8 questionnaire with a physical component summary and a mental component summary score. We conducted logistic regression analyses to evaluate the associations of offspring's wheezing, asthma, and food allergy with maternal QoL and depression.

Results: There were 72,685 participants with no missing variables. Maternal physical component summary scores of the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-8 questionnaire were negatively associated with offspring's asthma (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-1.00), current wheezing (aOR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.99-0.99), and food allergy diagnoses (aOR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.98-0.99) in children. Offspring's wheezing and asthma were also associated with maternal depression and anxiety during pregnancy.

Conclusion: Poor maternal prenatal QoL increased the risk of wheezing, asthma, and food allergy in offspring. In addition, maternal depression and anxiety increased the risk of offspring's wheezing, asthma, and food allergy.