Stress during pregnancy from job loss, divorce, or death of a loved one can be linked to a risk of eczema and asthma among children.

These findings, could "allow clinicians to evaluate future asthma risk in unborn children using a simple life event assessment questionnaire," said Dr. Petra Arck of University Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, reports Newsmax Health.

To investigate further, the researchers examined data from 1,587 children and their mothers who took part in an Australian pregnancy study.

Mothers-to-be were asked about recent stressful life events halfway through their pregnancy and again toward the end of pregnancy. Their children were evaluated for asthma, eczema and other allergy-related conditions at age six and 14.

The researchers calculated that the likelihood of having asthma or eczema as a teenager was substantially higher among children of mothers who experienced stressful life events during the second half of their pregnancies.