Link between childhood stress and allergies found
A long-term research study conducted by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, has discovered a significant link between childhood stress and an increased risk of developing allergies later on in life. The researchers examined blood samples from 234 six-year-old children. What they discovered was that children who had experienced a stressful situation, such as moving house or the separation of their parents, also exhibited higher concentrations of the stress-related neuropeptide vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) in their blood. What this suggests to researchers is that the neuropeptide could be influencing the regulation of immune responses. The results of the study were published in the scientific journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. Stressful events occurring during childhood are increasingly suspected of playing a crucial role in the later development of asthma and allergic skin disorders. For children, stressful situations can include the serious illness of a family member to seemingly harmless situations such as moving house. It has been known for some time that stress can have an influence on the development of allergies. What still remains unknown however is the actual mechanism behind this. This is why this study was so important. For the first time, stressful events were investigated during early childhood within a large study using immune and stress markers. The research study is based on data from six-year-old children from the 'Lifestyle - immune system - allergy' (LISA) study. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of lifestyle on immune system development in early childhood and the emergence of allergies. Over 3,000 newborn children in the cities of Munich, Leipzig, Wesel and Bad Honnef were recruited to the study between the end of 1997 and the beginning of 1999. Parents were regularly questioned about various lifestyle-related factors and disease outcomes. Blood tests were also carried out at different times. A total of 565 children were examined up to the age of six in Leipzig, and for 234 participants, blood analyses of stress and immune parameters were carried out. Preceding investigations in LISA indicated that there is a relationship between an increased concentration of the neuropeptide VIP and allergies among six-year old children. Even if the results have to be interpreted carefully, because of the comparatively small number of children affected, they still provide valuable indications as to what exactly happens to the body through stress.
Countries
Germany