title: Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy and the risk of neural tube defects: a case-control study.
abstract: There has been considerable professional debate on the association between nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) and neural tube defects (NTDs) risk. This study explored the association between NVP and NTDs risk, and the effect of folic acid supplements on the association. A 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted and conditional logistic regression model was used to analyze the associations. The result showed the odds ratio (OR) of severe NVP for NTDs was 2.403 (95%CI 1.437,4.017; P<0.001) and that of moderate NVP was 1.469 (95%CI 1.063,2.031; P = 0.020) compared with light NVP when adjusted by the potential confounders. Stratified by intake of folic acid supplements, the ORs for severe and moderate NVP turned to 2.147 (95%CI 1.140, 4.043; P = 0.018) and 2.055 (95%CI 1.320, 3.199; P = 0.001) in the stratum of non-intake of folic acid supplements while ORs reduced to 1.851 (95%CI 0.729, 4.699; P = 0.195) and 1.003 (95%CI 0.594, 1.694; P = 0.992) in the stratum of intake of folic acid supplements, respectively. We conclude that severe/moderate NVP has an association with the risk of NTDs, which was not found in the group with intake of folic acid supplements. Folic acid supplements should be recommended to use for the prevention of NTDs.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qing-Bin
authors.initials: QB
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Ping
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Li-Jie
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xi-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Tang
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D009325:Nausea / Q000209:etiology*; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology*
chemical_list: D005492:Folic Acid