What is it about?
Studies have shown that during pregnancy, maternal exposure to higher levels of outdoor traffic-related air pollution and greater stress increase asthma risk in children when considered one at a time. This is the first study to show that when mothers experience both higher stress and elevated air pollution exposures in pregnancy, the impact on children's asthma risk is multiplied. Moreover, this combination particularly impacts boys. Novel methods developed by our group also more objectively identify specific windows in pregnancy when these exposures have their effects on children's respiratory development.
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Why is it important?
A more definitive characterization of vulnerable windows may provide insight into underlying mechanisms when coupled with our understanding of lung growth, airway structural and functional development, and asthma pathophysiology. Furthermore, consideration of these complex interactions may more fully identify vulnerable subgroups to airborne toxins.
Perspectives
Environmental exposures do not occur in isolation and these data add to accumulating evidence showing that the co-occurrence of psychological stress and chemical stressors further magnifies risk, especially in susceptible sub-populations. Understanding sex and temporal differences in response to both chemical and non-chemical toxins starting in pregnancy may provide unique insights into asthma etiology and natural history.
Rosalind Wright
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Prenatal Nitrate Exposure and Childhood Asthma. Influence of Maternal Prenatal Stress and Fetal Sex, American Review of Respiratory Disease, December 2017, American Thoracic Society,
DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201702-0421oc.
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