Introduction: Nausea and vomiting are common symptoms occurring in early pregnancy. The severe form, hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), may affect nutritional intake, disrupt sleep, day-to-day activities, and negatively influence quality of life (QoL). Pregnancy unique quantification of emesis score is a questionnaire-based method which categorizes patients of nausea and vomiting according to frequency of vomiting and retching, and duration of the characteristic symptom of feeling unwell over a 24-h period. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), including HG, along with evaluation of the structured Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emission Score tool in categorizing patients into mild, moderate, and severe groups and assessing their QoL. Methods: Three hundred women with a Singleton pregnancy <16 weeks pregnancy were interviewed using a structured questionnaire-based Pregnancy-Unique Emesis Score (PUQE) tool. The responses were scored, and quantification of emesis was done. Their QoL was assessed on an adapted 5-point Likert scale. Results: Prevalence of NVP in this study was 89% and that of HG was 2.6%. Mean QoL score was 3.41 ± 1.15. Conclusion: Physical and mental well-being of pregnant women may improve on the quantification of NVP in clinical practice. Use of this in turn may have a positive impact on their QoL. Use of this score may be promoted by clinicians at the grassroot levels of health care for better management.
Sinha et al. (Tue,) studied this question.