Early pregnancy nausea and vomiting in a high-altitude Andean population.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the prevalence, risk factors, and maternal-neonatal consequences of early pregnancy nausea and vomiting (NVP) in a high altitude Ecuadorian Andean population.


METHODS
Subjects were 1000 low-income urban primigravidas who delivered full-term pregnancies.


RESULTS
NVP prevalence was 67%. Decreased NVP risk was associated with higher altitude and increased risk with less education, common law marriage, and white collar/professional occupation. Lifestyle changes associated with NVP included decreased likelihood of drinking and outside employment but increased probability of prenatal care, supportive living arrangements, and dietary disturbances. NVP had no apparent long-term effect on maternal nutritional status but was associated with increased fetal subcutaneous fat reserves.


CONCLUSIONS
NVP prevalence and timing was similar to developed populations although some of the identified risk factors were unique to the group. NVP did not appear to have a significant impact on prenatal nutrition at term but was linked with increased fetal fat accumulation.
Weigel
M M
MM
Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise, Virginia Polytechnical Institute and University, Virgina 24061, USA.
Caiza
M E
ME
Lascano
Y
Y
Barreno
G
G
Mosquera
L
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000531:Altitude; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009325:Nausea / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014505:Urban Population; D014839:Vomiting / Q000453:epidemiology*