Follow‐up Study from Birth of the Effects of Prenatal Stresses

Abstract

SUMMARY Health nurses interviewed 153 randomly selected mothers during the first month after delivery and obtained data on their pregnancies, and, by periodic visits up to four years of age, on the health, development and behaviour of their children. The object was to explore the relationships between child morbidity and a wide range of possibly noxious factors in pregnancy. No relationship was found between the children's health and physical illness, accidents, work stresses or dental operations in the mothers. Situational stresses such as the death or severe illness of a family member, or shocks and frights, experienced by the expectant mother were also not significant. On the other hand, stresses involving severe, continuing personal tensions (in particular marital discord) were closely associated with child morbidity in the form of ill‐health, neurological dysfunction, developmental lag and behaviour disturbance. This association could not be attributed to prenatal maternal illness, to short gestation or to complications at delivery. Low socioeconomic status and adverse environment were not significantly related to child morbidity if there was no prenatal personal tension, but they were highly characteristic of the personal tension cases. It is suggested that the effects of poverty on child development are mediated by prenatal personal tensions. It is also suggested that continuous personal tension in pregnancy may be characteristic of population pressures, and that their morbid outcome in the children acts as a means of population control in the human race. RÉSUMÉ Etude longitudinale depuis la naissance sur les effets des tensions prénatales Des infirmières de santé ont interrogé 153 mères sélectionnées au hasard sur leurs grossesses durant le premier mois après l'accouchement et au cours de visites périodiques par la suite. Elles purent obtenir des détails sur la santé, le développement et le comportement des enfants juqu'à l'âge de 4 ans. L'objet de l'étude a été d'explorer la relation entre la morbidité infantile et une grande étendue de facteurs nocifs possibles durant la grossesse. Aucune affection physique chez la mère, aucun accident, aucun accident du travail, ni intervention dentaire n'ont joué un tel rôle. Des tensions de situation telle que la mort ou une maladie grave chez un membre de la famille, un choc ou une grande frayeur, que la future mère avait dû surmonter, se montrèrent également sans influence sur la santé des enfants. Inversement, des tensions qui prennent une forme personnelle grave et continuelle—en particulier les discordes conjugales—étaient intimement associées avec la mauvaise santé des enfants, des dysfonctions neurologiques et des troubles du comportement. Cette association n'a pu être attribuée à une maladie maternelle prénatale concomitante, une pré‐maturité ou une complication de la délivrance. Le niveau socio‐économique bas et un environnement défavorable n'étaient pas reliés significativement à une morbidité infantile lorsqu'il n'y avait pas de tension personnelle prénata...

Neurobehavior Related to Epigenetic Differences in Preterm Infants

“…Allostatic load refers to chronic, cumulative stress that becomes biologically embedded through repeated activation of the HPA system. This 'wear and tear' on stress response systems that has long-term effects on adult cardiovascular, metabolic, nervous and immune systems, increases the likelihood of disease, [48][49][50] psychological and behavioral abnormalities [51][52][53][54] and psychopathology [55]. Although this construct is not typically used in the current context, it is important to note that the mean gestational age at birth of our sample was 28.26 weeks with a mean length of stay of 11.5 weeks.…”

Third Pathophysiology of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure

“…Similar to the 'emotionality' reported in animal studies, human infants exposed to stress in utero show high reactivity, activity and irritability [108][109][110] . Psychological and behavioral abnormalities have also been reported in children exposed to prenatal stress [111][112][113] , including learning and behavior problems [114] . The effect of prolonged exposure to chronic stress, or allostatic load [115] , is the cost of wear and tear on the body produced by the repeated activation of biological stress response systems.…”

Prenatal Stress and its effects of human cognition, behavior and psychopathology: A review of the literature

“…Only the chronic interpersonal stressors were related to behavioral disturbance in their offspring [13]. Other studies have reported that toddlers whose mothers had high anxiety during pregnancy cry more often and have increased risk to develop habit disorders [16,17].…”

“…While classic research papers have focused on retrospective correlations between Prenatal Stress and child outcomes [5,13]. Some recent works opt for prospective studies, which allow a closer examination of the maternal stressors and the gestational process [14,15].…”