Fiaschi L, et al. - This study encompassed an assessment of the risks of adverse maternal and birth outcomes in women with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). It was determined that HG could display antenatal and postnatal consequences which could be taken into account in communications between health care professionals and women. The intention was to best manage HG and prevent progression during pregnancy.

Methods

• The design of this research was a population-based cohort study.
• The secondary health care records (Hospital Episode Statistics covering all of England from 1997 to 2012) estimated the odds ratios (OR) with 99% confidence intervals (CI) for the correlation between HG hospital admission and adverse outcomes, adjusting for maternal and pregnancy confounders.

Results

• Women with HG reported increased odds of anaemia (OR 1.28, 99% CI 1.23, 1.33), preeclampsia (OR 1.16, 99% CI 1.09, 1.22), eclampsia (OR 1.84, 99% CI 1.07, 3.18), venous thromboembolism antenatally (OR 1.94, 99% CI 1.57, 2.39 for deep vein thrombosis, and OR 2.54, 99% CI 1.89, 3.40 for pulmonary embolism) and post-partum, within 8 211850 pregnancies ending in live births or stillbirths.
• Decreased odds of stillbirth (OR 0.77, 99% CI 0.66, 0.89) and post-term (OR 0.86, 99% CI 0.81, 0.92) delivery were reported.
• Women displayed greater tendency to be induced (OR 1.20, 99% CI 1.16, 1.23), to deliver preterm (OR 1.11, 99% CI 1.05, 1.17), very preterm (OR 1.18, 99% CI 1.05, 1.32), or by caesarean section (OR 1.12, 99% CI 1.08, 1.16), to have low birthweight (OR 1.12, 99% CI 1.08, 1.17) or small for gestational age (OR 1.06, 99% CI 1.01, 1.11) babies.
• Despite small absolute risks, their offspring exhibited greater likelihood of undergoing resuscitation or neonatal intensive care.