Maternal physiological and psychological factors and its impact on foetus outcome: A scoping review

Abstract

Low birth weight (LBW), prematurity and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) remains the leading causes of perinatal morbidity, mortality, neurodevelopmental impairments and disabilities among newborn babies (WHO 1995) The belief that a mother’s psychological status may affect her foetus has been common in every society, since ancient times. The study aims to explore the literature revealing impact of maternal nutrition, maternal stress on the Foetus growth, and on pregnancy outcome. The literature regarding effects of prenatal maternal stress and diet on Foetus outcomes was obtained from numerous journals and peer-reviewed articles on Pubmed, MEDLINE, Embase and Google Scholar till 2018 using Boolean combinations of the terms ‘maternal nutrition’, ‘maternal stress’, ’maternal occupational stress’, ‘foetus growth’, ‘pregnancy outcome’. Ample of research work is conducted on maternal dietary practices and its impact on foetus growth in other countries as well as in India. But Maternal psychological stress and its impact on foetus growth is rarely studied in global scenarios and much rare in India. The study reveals that the maternal stress during pregnancy causes poor development of foetus also affects the cognitive and behavioural development of children in their later life. Impact of stress varies in function with type of stress, gestational period during which it occurs. The present review was conducted to have a better idea about prenatal maternal stress and poor Foetus outcome. The study suggests that addressing pregnancy related health issues is important in order to appropriate strategies to promote and protect maternal and infant health.