Contraception
Volume 76, Issue 6 , Pages 451-455, December 2007

Elective pregnancy termination in a large cohort of women with hyperemesis gravidarum☆

Some data in this paper were presented in preliminary form at the 55th Annual Clinical Meeting of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, May 5–9, 2007, San Diego, CA [Obstet Gynecol 2007;109(4):1195S].

  • Borzouyeh Poursharif

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
    • ,
  • Lisa M. Korst

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, LAC+USC Women's and Children's Hospital, 5K40, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Tel.: +1 323 226 3306; fax: +1 323 226 2710.
    • ,
  • Kimber W. MacGibbon

      Affiliations

    • Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation, Leesburg, VA 20176, USA
    • ,
  • Marlena S. Fejzo

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
    • ,
  • Roberto Romero

      Affiliations

    • NICHD, NIH, DHHS, Perinatology Research Branch, Detroit, MI, USA
    • ,
  • T. Murphy Goodwin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA

Received 9 July 2007; received in revised form 30 August 2007; accepted 30 August 2007. published online 12 November 2007.

Abstract 

Background

This study was conducted to describe characteristics of women who terminated their pregnancies secondary to hyperemesis gravidarum (HG).

Study Design

Data were obtained from a survey provided on an HG Web site from 2003 to 2005.

Results

Of 808 women who completed the survey, 123 (15.2%) had at least one termination due to HG, and 49 (6.1%) had multiple terminations. Prominent reasons given for the terminations were inability to care for the family and self (66.7%), fear that they or their baby could die (51.2%), or that the baby would be abnormal (22.0%). These same women were three times as likely to state that their health care providers were uncaring or did not understand how sick they were [64/123 (52.0%) vs. 168/685 (24.5%), odds ratio 3.34 (95% CI 2.21–5.05), p<.001].

Conclusion

These data suggest that the physical and psychological burden of HG has been underestimated, and that further education within the medical community may be warranted.

Keywords: Hyperemesis gravidarum, Nausea, Vomiting, Pregnancy

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☆ This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.

PII: S0010-7824(07)00413-1

doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2007.08.009

Contraception
Volume 76, Issue 6 , Pages 451-455, December 2007

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