Effect of maternal sleep, physical activity and screen time during pregnancy on the risk of childhood respiratory allergies: a sex-specific study

BACKGROUND: Early life exposure in the uterus had a long-term effect on children’s health. As the prevalence of allergies is increasing with a remarkable sex difference, very few studies have traced back to their early origins. We sought to investigate if maternal behavioral exposure, herein sleep, physical activity, and screen time during pregnancy is associated with childhood respiratory allergies. The sex difference would be examined. METHODS: Six thousand two hundred thirty-six mother-child pairs from Shanghai Children Allergy Study (SCAS) were enrolled, The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire was adopted to evaluate respiratory allergic diseases. RESULTS: 14.6, 16.2, and 21.0% of children had asthma, wheeze, and allergic rhinitis, respectively. Maternal short sleep duration, lack of physical activity, and too much screen exposure during pregnancy could increase the risk of childhood respiratory allergies, however, the significance was found only in males. Moreover, a dose-response trend was clearly shown, any two of the three combined could increase the risk (OR,1.921; 95% CI,1.217–3.033), and the coexistence of all three further amplified the risk (OR,2.412; 95% CI,1.489–3.906). The findings can be verified in allergen test subgroup and each single type of respiratory allergies in most cases. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal unhealthy behaviors during pregnancy could increase the risk of childhood respiratory allergies with a dose-response pattern. Males were more susceptible to the association. The identification of modifiable maternal risk behaviors lies in the emphasis of intervention in early life to face up increasing childhood allergies.