Stressed mothers 'can make their children's asthma worse'

Stressed mothers 'can make their children's asthma worse' - Stressed-out mothers can make their children's asthma worse, researchers said today.

Angry and irritated mothers or those who try to suppress their emotions can worsen the condition in their sons and daughters, particularly when they are young.

A year-long study of 223 mothers, investigated what effect their stress levels, coping styles and parenting styles had on their two to 12 year old children who suffered from asthma.

Mothers' tendencies to reject, dominate, overprotect and indulge their children were assessed by questionnaire, as were their specific kinds of chronic stress and coping styles.

Children over the age of seven suffered worse attacks if their mother was over protective. But younger children suffered more in the following year if their mother was chronically angry, irritated or suppressed their emotions.

A mother gives respiratory medicine to her son with an airways condition. A study has found that stressed mothers could be unwittingly worsening their child's asthma

mother gives respiratory medicine to her son with an airways condition. A study has found that stressed mothers could be unwittingly worsening their child's asthma

Jun Nagano, of the Kyushu University Institute of Health Science in Japan, said: 'A mother's stress or wellbeing may be verbally or non-verbally conveyed to her child, and affect the child's asthmatic status via a psycho-physiological pathway, such as by immunoreactivity to allergens or a vulnerability to airway infections'.

He added: 'Our results suggest that the mothers of younger children may be advised to pay more attention to the reduction of their own stress.

'Mothers of older children may be encouraged to increase their own wellbeing via proper egocentric and self-defensive activities, being careful to avoid too much interference with their children.'

Asthma is a condition that affects the airways. When it is triggered it causes the tubes going into the lungs to become narrower and irritated making it difficult to breath.

It is a common chronic condition with 5.4million sufferers in the UK of which 1.1million are children.

Professor Nagano's research was published in BioMed Central's open access journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine. ( dailymail.co.uk )