Table 1.

Selected human studies of potential genetic, epigenetic and immunologic mechanisms for stress-related asthma or asthma morbidity

Study (first author, year, reference number)	Study population	Major findings
Chen, 2013,43	516 Puerto Rican children with and without asthma	DNA methylation and a SNP in ADCYAP1R1 were associated with asthma risk
Tsartsali, 2012,48	62 Greek children with asthma, on ICS	SNPs in CRHR1 were associated with baseline Cortisol levels and Cortisol response
Tantisira, 2004,49	1,117 North American children and adults with asthma	SNPs in CRHR1 were associated with ICS response in multiple populations
Rogers, 2009,50	311 North American children with asthma	SNPs in CRHR1 were associated with poor long- term response to ICS
Kim, 2009,70	87 Korean adults with COPD	A SNP in CRHR1 was associated with reduced ICS response
Dijkstra,2008,52	281 Dutch adults with asthma	No association between CRHR1 variants and ICS response
Chen, 2009, 53	31 Canadian children with asthma	Children from low SES households had increased expression of pro- inflammatory cytokines
Miller, 2009,54	103 healthy Canadian adults	Low SES in early life was associated with up- regulation of adrenergic signaling and down- regulation of genes with glucocorticoid response elements
Wright, 2010, 62	Birth cohort of 557 American inner-city children	Cumulative prenatal maternal stress was associated with increased inflammatory cytokine responses in cord blood
Wright, 2004, 63	499 infants from Boston, MA with family history of atopy or asthma	Higher post-natal stress in caregivers was associated with increased total IgE at age 2 years
Sternthal, 2011, 64	Birth cohortstudy of 510 urban children from Boston, MA	Children from low SES households had higher cord blood IgE and increased risk of wheeze
Azad, 2012, 65	Cross-sectional study of 267 Canadian children	No difference in IL-6 production by ex vivo PBMCs between children with high SES and children who experienced upward social mobility, but PBMC’s from children with persistently low SES had decreased IL-6 production
Miller, 2006, 67	77 children with and without asthma from Vancouver, BC	Acute and chronic stress were associated with reduced expression of glucocorticoid receptor and beta-adrenergic genes in children with asthma, but with increased expression of these genes in children without asthma
Miller, 2009, 68	143 children with and without asthma from Vancouver, BC	Low perceived parental support was associated with higher levels of eosinophil cationic protein and increased resistance to corticosteroids in ex vivo PBMCs
Marin, 2009, 66	Prospective study of 147 children with and without asthma from Vancouver, BC	Only asthmatic children with higher levels of chronic stress had increased pro- inflammatory cytokine production when exposed to acute stressors