Dietary and other factors as risks of hyperemesis gravidarum

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the dietary and other factors on the risk of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) during pregnancy. Method: A case-control study was conducted on thirty women with hyperemesis gravidarum and 30 women without hyperemesis gravidarum admitted to Women Health Care Clinic in Ankara over 3-months period. Dietary (total energy, total fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat intakes) and non-dietary (prepregnancy body mass index, previous history of HG, parity, gravidity, education level, employment and smoking status) factors were evaluated on the risk of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). Results: Cases and controls were similar with respect to education levels, employment status, gravidity number and smoking habits. Frequency of previous history of hyperemesis gravidarum was significantly higher in women with HG than the women without HG (p < 0.05). The odds ratio for the women with hyperemesis history was 0.7 (95 % CI 0.6, 0.9). There were no statistically significant associations with energy (OR = 2.0; 95% CI 0.7,5.9), total fat (OR = 1.2; 95% CI 0.4, 3.3) and saturated fat (OR = 2.0; 95% CI 0.7,5.9) intakes and HG. Conclusion: Despite, previous history of hyperemesis gravidarum had a significant effect on the risk of HG, the etiology of the HG in pregnancy is still unclear because, hyperemesis gravidarum most probably is a disease with a complicated etiology, with several independent and interdependent risk factors.