Morning sickness is a common occurrence with early pregnancy. Although it can make women feel miserable, new research shows this cloud has one silver lining.
Women with Morning Sickness Less Likely to Miscarry:
Women who experience nausea and vomiting associated with the onset of pregnancy are 50 to 75 percent less likely to lose the baby before the pregnancy is completed.
The research, reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, included almost 800 young women very early in a confirmed pregnancy. All of these women were in the study because they had previous pregnancies that had ended in miscarriage.
The women were under scrutiny from before conception, so researchers knew about even the earliest pregnancy losses. During this trial, almost one fourth of the pregnancies ended in miscarriage. This is a higher ratio than usual, probably because the volunteers were at such high risk. Starting surveillance before conception also meant some pregnancies were recorded in this trial that would be missed under other circumstances.
So What About Morning Sickness?
Women who experienced nausea alone or with vomiting were significantly less likely to experience pregnancy loss during this trial. It won’t make the experience any more pleasant, but it might be comforting for women to know.
No one knows why morning sickness is so common with pregnancy, but the authors hypothesize that viable placental tissue to support the embryo’s growth may release hormones that can cause nausea. They caution, however, that women who aren’t having morning sickness should not worry that there is something wrong with the pregnancy. Of course, all pregnant women should be under medical care.
