Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: a review of modern opportunities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15574/HW.2024.172.72Keywords:
pregnancy, nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, hyperemesis gravidarum, Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis (PUQE)Abstract
Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) are the most frequent and characteristic symptoms of pregnancy for the first trimester that potentially may cause substantial negative consequences for the physical and emotional health of a woman. According to various studies, from 50 to 90% of women suffer from NVP. Usually, the symptoms of NVP begin at 5-6 weeks after the last menstrual period and disappear in most cases by the 16th-20th week of pregnancy, but sometimes they persist and may be observed until the third trimester, and in rare cases - even until childbirth. The doctor's main task in providing assistance to a pregnant woman with NVP is the timely application of an adequate treatment strategy, both effective and safe for a mother and a fetus, as well as ensuring the highest achievable life quality for a woman.
The aim of this article is to analyze modern management opportunities for pregnant women with NVP, including an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of different treatment strategies, for a comprehensive understanding of the NVP problem and the main principles and ways for solving it.
This review is based on national guidelines (updated Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG) Green-top clinical guideline 2024, Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) Guideline 2016), the results of various studies, and review articles (database of the Cochrane Library, UpToDate, EMBASE, MEDLINE).
Conclusion: a combination of pyridoxine and doxylamine can be prescribed for the prevention of NVP since the diagnosis of pregnancy in a high-risk group of women. In case of already existing symptoms of NVP, the objective assessment of complaints, as well as a response to the prescribed therapy, are facilitated by the unified scales. In most cases, lifestyle modification and first-line drug therapy effectively reduce the severity of NVP symptoms and improve a woman's quality of life. In case of insufficient response, other drugs are added to the treatment regimen, including second and third-line drugs, with a consideration of possible drug interactions. Some patients might need admission, and in addition to antiemetic therapy, they might need intravenous rehydration, electrolyte balance restoration, and thromboprophylaxis.
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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