Scientists have established the cause of vomiting and nausea throughout pregnancy
[ad_1]
Nausea and vomiting, which are often characteristic of the first trimester of pregnancy, are provoked by the hormone GDF15. The severity of the symptoms depends on the amount of the hormone circulating in the woman’s blood.
The discovery could lead to more effective treatment of morning sickness, including rare, life-threatening cases, according to a study published in the journal Nature, The New York Times reports.
More than two-thirds of pregnant women experience nausea during the first trimester. About 2% of women are hospitalized for a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum, incessant vomiting and nausea throughout pregnancy.
Hyperemesis can lead to malnutrition, weight loss, and dehydration. It also increases the risk of premature birth, preeclampsia (the development of high blood pressure after the 20th week of pregnancy) and the formation of blood clots, which threaten the life of the mother and the fetus.
| Photo: IgorTishenko/Depositphotos |
Because nausea and vomiting are so common during pregnancy, hyperemesis gravidarum is often overlooked by doctors, treating its severe symptoms as psychosomatic, even though they can be a major cause of hospitalization in early pregnancy, experts say.
The genetic testing company 23andMe included a question about hyperemesis in a survey of tens of thousands of customers. The obtained data showed that clients with hyperemesis tend to be carriers of the GDF15 hormone variant.
GDF15 is released by many tissues in our body in response to stress – such as infection. Its signal is very specific: receptors for the hormone are clustered in the part of the brain responsible for nausea and vomiting.
In a new study, Dr. Marlena Feizo, a geneticist at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, and her colleagues at the University of Cambridge measured the level of this hormone in the blood of pregnant women. The researchers found that women experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum had significantly higher levels of GDF15 during pregnancy than those without symptoms.
 |
| Photo: photomim/Depositphotos |
But the effect of the hormone also depends on the woman’s sensitivity and exposure to the hormone before pregnancy. Dr. Stephen O’Rahilly, a Cambridge endocrinologist who led the study, suggested that long-term exposure to GDF15 before pregnancy may have a protective effect, making women less sensitive to the sudden surge in the hormone caused by fetal development.
“I’ve been working on this condition for 20 years, but I still get reports of women dying from it and doctors ignoring their complaints.” – says the co-author of the study, Marlena Feizo.
She knows about this condition firsthand. During her second pregnancy (in 1999), Dr. Feizo could not eat or drink without vomiting. She quickly lost weight, became too weak to stand or walk. Her doctor was dismissive of this and believed that she was exaggerating her symptoms to gain attention. Eventually, she was hospitalized and miscarried at 15 weeks.
Read also: Children of parents diagnosed with infertility may be at higher risk of autism, study finds
[ad_2]
Original Source Link
