title: Acupressure and ginger to relieve nausea and vomiting in pregnancy: a randomized study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) is the most common medical condition of pregnancy, affecting up to 85% of expecting mothers. NVP can have serious adverse effects on the quality of a woman's life, social, and domestic functioning, and her general well-being. Therefore, it is very important to treat this condition.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The effectiveness of ginger and acupressure in the treatment of NVP was compared in the present study.
  
  
  METHODS
  159 eligible pregnant women with symptoms of mild to moderate nausea and/or vomiting before 16 weeks gestational age participated in a 7-day clinical trial. They were divided randomly into three groups: the acupressure, ginger, and control. Participants did not receive any intervention for three days and interventions were performed for the women in acupressure and ginger groups for four days. No intervention was performed for the control group. Data was collected by self-recorded symptoms according to the Rhodes index. Data was analyzed by ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square, and Fisher exact tests for quantitative and qualitative variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no statistical differences in the baseline demographics between the three groups. ANOVA test showed that there were significantly differences in mean difference Rhodes index scores (vomiting, nausea, retching and total score) in the three groups (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ginger is more effective than acupressure to relieve mild to moderate nausea and vomiting in symptomatic pregnant women in less than 16 weeks of gestational age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Farzaneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saberi
authors.affiliation: Trauma Nursing Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Zohreh
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sadat
authors.affiliation: Trauma Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abedzadeh-Kalahroudi
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mahboobeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taebi
keywords: Acupressure; Ginger; Nausea; Pregnancy; Vomiting