Pregnant women who have severe and prolonged morning sickness are at 50% higher risk for a vast number of mental health disorders, a new study suggests.
Hyperemesis gravidarum, or HG, is the clinical term for women who suffer from persistent nausea and vomiting during pregnancy – symptoms that do not resolve after the first trimester and that can lead to dehydration and weight loss. It is more extreme than typical morning sickness, which usually disappears after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and marked by more occasional nausea and vomiting than HG, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
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About 70% of pregnant women experience morning sickness; HG is much rarer, affecting between 0.3% and 10.8% of pregnant women, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Though HG is not that common, it is the primary cause of hospitalization during pregnancy and can make women feel anxious about leaving home and unsure of their abilities to get through pregnancy and cope once the child is born. Some women even consider termination due to HG, according to the HER Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to education, support and research about the condition.
The new stud,y published Sept. 18 in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, and Women's Health, confirmed previous research that found a link between HG and increased risk for postpartum depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. But this study went further, establishing that women with HG have double the risk of 13 severe mental health conditions, including postpartum psychosis, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance use disorders, according to the researchers.
"Until recently, there has been something of a disconnect between how the medical community has regarded the mental health impact of HG and how women themselves describe their experience," Dr. Thomas Pollak, a neuropsychiatrist at King's College London and the senior author, said in a release. "Our findings show that this gap is not only real but can be very serious. HG can be associated with severe psychiatric disorders that require urgent recognition and joined-up physical and mental healthcare from the very start of pregnancy."
Women with HG were 2.7 times more likely to develop postpartum depression than women without the condition.
The study also found that pregnant women with HG had a 50% higher chance of getting Wernicke's encephalopathy, a serious neuropsychiatric disorder in which a deficiency of the vitamin thiamine leads to problems with memory and coordination.
The study involved nearly 480,000 pregnant women diagnosed with HG at 135 health care providers worldwide.
Little is known about the causes of HG, but scientists believe it may be due in part to rising hormone levels in pregnancy. There is no prevention or cure for it.
Symptoms of HG include severe nausea and vomiting, loss of 5% or more of pre-pregnancy weight, dehydration, headaches, food aversions and extreme fatigue, the American Pregnancy Association says.
Women with HG who become dehydrated may require intravenous fluids in a health care setting. Sometimes women with HG take medication, such as Zofran, to help prevent vomiting.
Some women find that ginger and peppermint help with HG symptoms. Other treatments may include acupressure, hypnosis and bed rest, according to the American Pregnancy Foundation.