Prevalence and severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and effect of vitamin supplementation
Emelianova, S.; Mazzotta, P.; Einarson, A.; Koren, G.
Clinical and Investigative Medicine 22(3): 106-110
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0147-958X PMID: 10410832 Document Number: 502892
Three cohorts of women were studied: cohort of 193 women, to estimate the rate and severity of nausea and vomiting (cohort A); a cohort of 555 women who sought advice for nausea with or without vomiting, to study the correlation between the maximal daily number of episodes of vomiting and maximal weight loss (cohort B); and a prospective cohort of 301 women who reported vomiting, to correlate vitamin supplementation with vomiting (cohort C) [1997]. All 3 cohorts were interviewed during the counselling session, and cohort B was followed up prospectively. The frequency of nausea and vomiting, weight loss, maximal number of daily episodes of vomiting, rate of multivitamin supplementation were determined. 67% of the women in cohort A reported experiencing nausea or vomiting, or both; 22% reported vomiting, and 9% experienced weight loss. In cohort B there was a correlation between the maximum number of daily episodes of vomiting and maximum weight loss, although there was wide variation (rsuperscript 2=0.25, P<0.001). There was a high correlation between the number of daily vomiting episodes and mean weight loss (rsuperscript 2=0.99). In cohort C, vomiting was associated with lack of supplementation with multivitamins before 6 weeks' gestation (P=0.002). It is concluded that the relation between number of daily vomiting episodes and mean weight loss may serve as a clinical tool to assess the severity of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and the success of anti-emetics and rehydration regimens.