According to Canadian researchers, children whose mothers are stressed are at a higher risk for asthma.
Persistent distress in a mother, such as depression or anxiety, can increase the risk that the child will develop asthma by an average of 25 percent.
The study analyzed the medical records of nearly 14,000 children. They checked to see whether the children had asthma at age 7, and then cross-checked this information with the mother's medical records, including doctor visits, hospitalizations and medication for depression and anxiety.