The association of temperament with nausea and vomiting during early pregnancy

ABSRACT

We aimed to investigate the relationship between affective temperaments and the severity of nausea and vomiting symptoms in early pregnancy (NVP). The pregnant women who did (n = 187) or did not report (n = 71) any nausea and vomiting at three consecutive assessments with the Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis Scoring Index (PUQE) (n = 71) were examined. Affective temperamental traits were assessed by Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego auto-questionnaire (TEMPS-A). The anxious (p < .0001), depressive (p = .003), cyclothymic (p = .03) and irritable (p = .021) temperament traits in NVP patients were significantly higher than in controls. There were significant correlations between the PUQE scores and depressive (p = .002), cyclothymic (p = .001), irritable (p = .001) and anxious (p = .001) traits. Anxious temparement (p = .004) and being a housewife (p = .012) were significantly associated with NVP. Our results suggest that women with a predominantly anxious temperament are more vulnerable to developing somatic complaints such as nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

IMPACT STATEMENT

• What is already known on this subject? Although some studies have examined the link between NVP and some psychiatric disorders, to our knowledge the relationship between NVP and affective temperament has not been well investigated.

• What do the results of this study add? Predominantly anxious temperament make the individuals vulnerable to develop some somatic complaints such as nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

• What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? The association of temperament and NVP might be linked to a psychosomatic process in pregnancy. Future research are required to examine the associations of temperament with NVP by including several other biological, social and psychological variables.

Keywords:

• Nausea
• vomiting
• temperament
• pregnancy