Nausea and Vomiting in Early Pregnancy of Adolescents: Relationship with Depressive Symptoms

Study ObjectiveTo determine the relationship between severity of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) and depressive symptoms in pregnant adolescents.DesignProspective cross-sectional study.SettingA maternity research hospital outpatient clinic, Ankara, Turkey.ParticipantsA total of 200 pregnant adolescents.Interventions and Main Outcome MeasuresDemographic features and obstetric histories of the participants were assessed. The Rhodes test was performed to determine nausea and vomiting severity in a face-to-face interview, and the self-reported Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was administered with supervision.ResultsThe Rhodes test results showed that 52/200 patients (26%) were classified with none, 83/200 patients (41.5%) with mild, 48/200 patients (24.0%) with moderate, and 17/200 patients (8.5%) with severe symptoms. The mean depression score in the severe vomiting group was significantly higher than that in the no NVP and mild NVP groups (P = .028 and .041, respectively). No differences were found between the other groups.ConclusionSevere nausea and vomiting was associated with greater depressive symptom severity in pregnant adolescents.