Cited studies did not show relation between maternal anxiety and birth weight

BMJ 1999;318:1288 ( 8 May )

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Cited studies did not show relation between maternal anxiety and birth weight

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EDITOR $---$ Teixeira et al¹ state that "some studies have shown that babies of stressed or anxious mothers have a significantlylower than average birth weight for gestational age and tend tobe born early" and then reference four papers, one of which ismine.² The St George's birthweight study was a large prospectivestudy of pregnant women which measured anxiety and depressionthroughout pregnancy. We found no association between anxietyand depression and either prematurity² or low birth weight.³Nor was any association found with life events as measured byPaykel's interview for recent lifeevents.

Interestingly, having demonstrated that high anxiety levels are linked to an increased uterine artery resistance index, Teixeiraet al note that the index is predictive of intrauterine growthretardation. Thus it is paradoxical that one of the largest cohortstudies of anxiety, depression, and stress in pregnancy, whichwas also referenced, found no . . . [Full text of this article]

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Association between maternal anxiety in pregnancy and increased uterine artery resistance index: cohort based study: Jerónima M A Teixeira, Nicholas M Fisk, and Vivette Glover
BMJ 1999 318: 153-157. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]