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Link between asthma in the mother and allergies in the child confirmed
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
Researchers from the Robinson Institute at the University of South Australia and the University of Queensland have confirmed that maternal asthma increases the risk of allergies in children.
In a systematic review of more than 20,000 literature, graduate student Andrea Roff and her team found that children whose mothers have asthma are 76% more likely to have the condition themselves.
This review is the first to collect data on how asthma severity and control during pregnancy affect allergic and asthmatic outcomes in children. It also found that better asthma control during pregnancy reduces the risk of asthma in children.
The results of the study were published in the journal BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.
"We found that maternal asthma was associated with an increased risk of wheezing (59%), food allergies (32%), eczema (17%) and hay fever (18%)," Roff said.
"The association between maternal asthma and offspring asthma risk was similar whether the mother had asthma during the pregnancy or had a history of asthma, consistent with the chronic nature of asthma.
"Uncontrolled and more severe maternal asthma during a given pregnancy was also associated with an increased risk of asthma in the offspring.
"There are insufficient data to assess the impact of maternal asthma control and severity on wheezing or allergic disease in the offspring, asthma exacerbations, or differences between active and inactive asthma during pregnancy."
Senior author and associate professor Katie Gatford noted that the review also found that better asthma control during pregnancy reduced the risk to children.
"Our analysis suggests that programmes aimed at improving asthma control during pregnancy may improve the long-term health of offspring and also reduce the risk of pregnancy complications," Associate Professor Gatford said.
"When mothers have asthma, the risks of asthma in offspring are 13% lower if maternal asthma is well controlled, and 19% lower in those whose mothers had mild asthma compared with moderate or severe asthma.
"This provides new incentive to work on asthma control during pregnancy.
"We already know that good asthma control improves outcomes during pregnancy and at birth, and we now know that children whose mothers had well-controlled asthma during pregnancy are at lower risk of developing asthma."