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Evaluation of nausea and vomiting in the first trimester on the risk of adverse birth outcomes and the contribution of genetic polymorphisms: a pilot prospective study

  • Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the impact of Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP) on the risk of Preterm Birth (PTB) and Low Birth Weight (LBW), and explore the effect of genetic polymorphisms on the severity of NVP.

Methods

A prospective study was conducted. Participants’ experience of NVP prior to 12 gestational weeks were evaluated by a Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis and Nausea (PUQE) scale. 11 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) loci located in growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) and leucine-rich repeat containing 25 (LRRC25) gene of chr19p13.11 and intergenic region of chr4q12 were genotyped, which were implicated as genetic risk factors for NVP. Logistic regression models were applied to determine the effect of NVP in the first trimester on the risk of PTB and LBW, and genetic polymorphisms on the risk of NVP.

Results

Among 413 pregnant women, the incidence of nausea and vomiting was 85.5% (n = 353) in the first trimester, including 38.7% (n = 160) mild vomiting, 42.6% (n = 176) moderate vomiting and 4.1% (n = 17) severe vomiting. 33 were PTB, 20 were LBW. Compared with pregnant women without NVP, women with mild, moderate or severe NVP in the first trimester were not associated with the risk of PTB and LBW. Besides, the polymorphisms of 11 SNPs loci were not associated with the risk of NVP.

Conclusions

Our study indicated that symptoms of nausea and vomiting in the first trimester were not significantly associated with PTB and LBW, and there were also no associations between GDF15 and LRRC25 polymorphisms and NVP.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

NVP:

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP)

PTB:

Preterm birth

LBW:

Low birth weight

PUQE:

Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis and Nausea

SNP:

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms

HG:

Hyperemesis gravidarum

GDF15 :

Growth differentiation factor 15

LRRC25 :

Leucine-rich repeat containing 25

SGA :

Gestational age

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the obstetric experts, geneticists, and epidemiologists who collaborated in this programme and made the study possible. We thank the obstetricians, experimental technicians and other participants involved in the project for recruiting the participants and collecting the data. We thank all participants for their cooperation and for providing personal information. We also thank the reviewers for their helpful comments.

Funding

This study is funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFC1000102, 2018YFC1004603).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Nana Li and Zhiwei Xue have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Birth Defect Monitoring, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Sec.3 No.17, South RenMin Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Nana Li, Ke Wang, Lu Li, Hong Kang, Meixian Wang, Ying Deng, Xiaohong Li, Yanping Wang, Jun Zhu & Ping Yu

  2. Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Nana Li, Xiaohong Li, Yanping Wang, Jun Zhu, Ping Yu & Shu Zhou

  3. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Zhiwei Xue, Hongmei Xu & Shu Zhou

  4. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The People’s Hospital of Leshan, Leshan, Sichuan, China

    Hongmei Xu

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal and Child, Healthcare Hospital of Peng’an County, Nanchong, China

    Ping Yang

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  1. Nana Li
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Contributions

PY and SZ developed the study design. NL and ZX conducted the experiment and drafted the manuscript. HX and KW assisted in analyzing the data. PY, Lu Li, HK, MeW and YD assisted in organizing and collecting the samples. XL, YW, JZ participated in reviewing, editing, and revising the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ping Yu or Shu Zhou.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval

This research was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sichuan University (No. K2017045) and the people’s hospital of Leshan (No. 2020206), and followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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All the participants signed an informed consent form.

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Li, N., Xue, Z., Xu, H. et al. Evaluation of nausea and vomiting in the first trimester on the risk of adverse birth outcomes and the contribution of genetic polymorphisms: a pilot prospective study. Arch Gynecol Obstet 308, 1713–1721 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-022-06851-3

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