The burden of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy: severe impacts on quality of life, daily life functioning and willingness to become pregnant again – results from a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundThough nausea and vomiting is very common during pregnancy, no studies have investigated the impact of this condition on the women’s daily lives in a Scandinavian population. The aim of this study was to describe the burden of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) on global quality of life, daily life functioning and willingness to become pregnant again according to the severity of NVP symptoms.MethodsThis study is a cross-sectional population-based study conducted in Norway. Pregnant women and mothers with children <1 year of age with current or prior NVP were eligible to participate. Data were collected through an anonymous on-line questionnaire accessible from November 10th, 2014 to January 31st, 2015. Severity of NVP was measured using the 24-h Pregnancy Unique Quantification of Emesis Scale (PUQE). Associations between severity of NVP, daily life functioning and willingness to become pregnant again were tested using chi-square tests. Associations with global quality of life measured in terms of the Quality of Life Scale (QOLS) were estimated using generalized linear models and reported as unstandardized regression coefficients (β) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results712 women with NVP were included in the study. NVP was significantly associated with several characteristics, including daily life functioning, quality of life and willingness to become pregnant again. The negative impact was greater the more severe the symptoms were, although considerable adverse effects were also seen among women with mild and moderate NVP symptoms. Over one fourth of the women with severe NVP considered terminating the pregnancy due to NVP, and three in four considered not to get pregnant again. Severity of NVP remained significantly associated with reduced global quality of life when adjusting for maternal characteristics and illnesses with β (95% CI) = −10.9 (−16.9, −4.9) for severe versus mild NVP.ConclusionsNVP as measured by PUQE had a major impact on various aspects of the women’s lives, including global quality of life and willingness to become pregnant again.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12884-017-1249-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effect of Nausea and Vomiting on Anxiety and Depression Levels in Early Pregnancy

“…Most of the studies focused on NVP and HG found conflicting results with respect to the development of anxiety and depression disorders [7][8][9]. In addition to these conflicting results, some studies have been criticized for having limitations, including small sample size, lack of control group, lack of objective diagnostic criteria, and inappropriate study design [5,8,10,11]. Hence, the objective of this prospective case-control study was to determine the prevalence and severity of anxiety and depression disorders in patients with NVP using specifically designed and validated tools.…”

“…Pregnant women with severe nausea and vomiting may have hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a separate entity from nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), which if left untreated may lead to increased maternal and fetal morbidity. HG is infrequent when compared with NVP and occurs in 0.3%-2% of all pregnancies [1,4,5]. The severity of complaints might vary from one pregnant woman to another and even between pregnancies of the same woman, which suggest the contribution of genetic, biological, and psychological factors.…”

Cardiovascular risk profile at the age of 40–45 in women with previous hyperemesis gravidarum or hypertensive disorders in pregnancy: A population-based study

“…Up to two thirds of women with hyperemesis are reported to have gestational transient thyrotoxicosis, although not necessitating treatment (54). Lastly, the condition may lead to significant psychological and emotional distress during as well as long after pregnancy (43,74).…”

Korean Mothersafe Center 10th Anniversary: Outcome and Future Prospects

“…¶ Net job creation effect: job creation (1.146)-job consumed by self for labor period (0.613)=0.533. (Heitmann et al, 2017;Lacasse et al, 2008). 그리고 임신부에게 스트레스와 우울감을 증가시킨다 (Yilmaz et al, 2016).…”