BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhuanet) -- A research said stressful events experienced during mothers' pregnancy may be passed on to babies, influence their immune system development and increase the risky for asthma, according to media reports Wednesday.

    The ongoing study by researchers at Harvard Medical School measured the blood levels of an antibody immunoglobulin E (IgE), the marker of immune response, in the umbilical cord to examine the impact of parental stress on child asthma risk.

    The data on 387 newborns in Boston shows that babies born to women who experienced three major stress events, like finances, health, relationships, and concerns about community safety during pregnancy had a 12 percent increase in risk of giving birth to a child with an altered immune response.

    This was true irrespective of the mother's race, class, education or smoking history.

    "This further supports the notion that stress can be thought of as a social pollutant that, when 'breathed' into the body, may influence the body's immune response," researcher Rosalind J. Wright said.

    But most of the children in the study are still too young to have developed asthma, so it is too soon to say that prenatal exposure to stress plays a role in later asthma risk, said Wright.

    "We should know more in a few years, when most of these children are between the ages of 3 to 5," Wright said.

    (Agencies)