title: Maternal depressive symptoms, maternal asthma, and asthma in school-aged children.
abstract: Little is known about the joint effects of maternal asthma and maternal depression on childhood asthma.
  
  
  
  To examine whether maternal depression and maternal asthma lead to greater risk of childhood asthma than maternal asthma alone.
  
  
  
  Cross-sectional studies of children (6-14 years old) in San Juan, Puerto Rico (n = 655) and Sweden (n = 6,887) were conducted. In Puerto Rico, maternal depressive symptoms were defined using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) questionnaire. In Sweden, maternal physician-diagnosed depression was derived from national registries, and maternal depressive symptoms were defined using an abbreviated CES-D questionnaire. Childhood asthma was defined as physician-diagnosed asthma plus current wheeze (in Puerto Rico) or plus medication use (in Sweden). Logistic regression was used for multivariable analysis.
  
  
  
  Compared with Puerto Rican children whose mothers had neither asthma nor depressive symptoms, those whose mothers had asthma but no depressive symptoms had 3.2 times increased odds of asthma (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.1-4.8) and those whose mothers had asthma and depressive symptoms had 6.5 times increased odds of asthma (95% CI = 3.3-13.0). Similar results were obtained for maternal depression and maternal asthma in the Swedish cohort (odds ratio for maternal asthma without maternal depression = 2.8, 95% CI = 2.1-3.7; odds ratio for maternal asthma and maternal depression = 4.0, 95% CI = 1.7-9.6). Although the estimated effect of maternal asthma on childhood asthma was increased when maternal depressive symptoms (Puerto Rico) or maternal depression (Sweden) was present, there were no statistically significant additive interactions.
  
  
  
  Maternal depression can further increase the risk of asthma in children whose mothers have a history of asthma.
authors.affiliation: Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Brock H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Medsker
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Bronwyn K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Brew
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy, Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Erick
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Forno
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lundholm
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy, Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Yueh-Ying
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
authors.forename: Edna
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Acosta-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
authors.forename: Glorisa J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Canino
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Lung and Allergy Unit, Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Almqvist
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy, Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: juan.celedon@chp.edu.
authors.forename: Juan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Celedón
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology