MONTREAL (UPI) -- Expectant mothers, who have asthma but are not treated during pregnancy, heighten the risk of their babies having asthma, Canadian researchers said. Lead author Dr. Lucie Blais, a professor at the Universite de Montreal and researcher at the Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal and colleagues at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center examined a decade of health records for 8,226 children -- from birth to age 10 -- born to asthmatic mothers. Parents of these children were also mailed questionnaires requesting additional facts concerning familial medical history, lifestyle habits and environment. The study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, found 32.6 percent of children born to mothers who neglected to treat their asthma during pregnancy developed the respiratory illness themselves. "Uncontrolled maternal asthma during pregnancy could trigger a transient yet important reaction in the fetus that affects lung development and could subsequently increase the likelihood of a baby developing asthma in later childhood," Blais said in a statement. "It is of great importance for physicians to adequately treat asthmatic mothers during pregnancy, not only for the favorable outcome of pregnancy but also for the benefit of the child."
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
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