Why morning sickness isn’t so bad after all


  • Experts assessed data of almost 800 women who have had a miscarriage 
  • At week of two of gestation, almost one in five reported having nausea
  • But this figure had increased to nearly 60 per cent by week eight
  • Experts said morning sickness can ‘have a negative effect on quality of life’

Stephen Matthews For Mailonline

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Pregnant women who suffer morning sickness may be much less likely to miscarry than those who don’t have such symptoms, new research suggests.

Nausea and nausea with vomiting were linked with a 75 per cent reduction in the risk of losing a pregnancy, scientists found.

Experts examined data of almost 800 women who had suffered one or two previous miscarriages. 

Overall, nearly a quarter of the pregnancies were lost to miscarriage, with many typically occurring around seven weeks gestation.

Nausea and nausea with vomiting were linked with a 75 per cent reduction in the risk of losing a pregnancy, scientists found

All the women recorded their nausea symptoms and sickness through pregnancy diaries and questionnaires.

At week two of gestation, almost one in five women reported nausea without vomiting while 2.7 per cent said they suffered nausea with vomiting.

By week eight, more women were suffering, with 57.3 per cent of women experience nausea, researchers from the National Institutes of Health in Maryland found.

But just more than a quarter had experienced nausea with vomiting.

Researchers found women aged 25 and under were more likely to suffer nausea.  

At week two of gestation, almost one in five women reported nausea while by week eight, 57.3 per cent had experienced the same

Writing in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the researchers said: ‘Our study confirms prior research nausea and vomiting appear to be more than a sign of still being pregnant and instead may be associated with a lower risk for pregnancy loss.’

The women in the study were aged almost 29 on average.

Nausea and nausea with vomiting were common symptoms, even during the earliest weeks of pregnancy. 

Around one in five women reported feeling sick even before they had carried out a pregnancy test.

The researchers said morning sickness can ‘have a substantial negative effect on quality of life’.

They added that ‘although speculation commonly suggests that nausea is a good sign and indicative of a healthy pregnancy’, previous evidence has been limited. 

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