Severe Nausea During Pregnancy Linked to Increased Risk of Depression

Postpartum depression affects up to 20% of mothers in the weeks following childbirth. An often ignored disorder with possibly serious consequences-suicide is currently the second leading cause of postpartum mortality, as noted by Health Insurance. The psychological impact of pregnancy is increasingly discussed, though it remains a generally taboo subject. However, symptoms linked to pregnancy, such as nausea and vomiting, are often trivialized despite their disabling nature when they develop into hyperemesis gravidarum.

Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland conducted a large study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, questioning the links between severe nausea during pregnancy and maternal mental health.

This symptom of pregnancy also has an impact on the mental level

“Severe nausea is not only an exhausting physical disorder, it is indeed also a significant risk factor for mental health“ underlines Eeva Terävä-Utti, co-author of the study, in a press release. Hyperemesis gravidarum corresponds to very severe nausea and vomiting at the start of pregnancy, responsible for weight loss, dehydration, and a significant impairment of daily life, specifies Health Insurance. It often requires examinations, specific treatment, and can lead to hospitalization when symptoms are too intense or threaten the health of the mother or baby.

Researchers from the University of Turku analyzed data from Finnish national registers to determine if a link existed between severe nausea during pregnancy and depression, before or after pregnancy. The study included more than 437,000 women who gave birth between 2004 and 2017, comparing those who suffered severe nausea to a control group without hyperemesis.

Hyperemesis gravidarum: what is the link with depression?

According to the study’s findings, women who experienced severe nausea were more likely to have experienced depression before pregnancy, and were also at greater risk of developing it after childbirth, with a diagnosis made earlier in the postpartum course. Before pregnancy, 8.8% of women who had severe nausea had already suffered from depression, compared to 1% in the control group-they were thus more than five times more at risk of having had depression before becoming pregnant. After giving birth, they were about 3.5 times more likely to develop new depression.

These results, published in the scientific journal The