Nausea and Vomiting in Early Pregnancy of Adolescents: Relationship with Depressive Symptoms

Study objective: To determine the relationship between severity of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) and depressive symptoms in pregnant adolescents.

Design: Prospective cross-sectional study.

Setting: A maternity research hospital outpatient clinic, Ankara, Turkey.

Participants: A total of 200 pregnant adolescents.

Interventions and main outcome measures: Demographic features and obstetric histories of the participants were assessed. The Rhodes test was performed to determine nausea and vomiting severity in a face-to-face interview, and the self-reported Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was administered with supervision.

Results: The Rhodes test results showed that 52/200 patients (26%) were classified with none, 83/200 patients (41.5%) with mild, 48/200 patients (24.0%) with moderate, and 17/200 patients (8.5%) with severe symptoms. The mean depression score in the severe vomiting group was significantly higher than that in the no NVP and mild NVP groups (P = .028 and .041, respectively). No differences were found between the other groups.

Conclusion: Severe nausea and vomiting was associated with greater depressive symptom severity in pregnant adolescents.