Introduction
Pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting is commonly seen in family medicine, and 50% to 90% of pregnancies are affected by nausea with or without vomiting. According to a recent study, up to 63% of women experience nausea and vomiting up to 24 weeks' gestation.[1] While only 0.3% to 2% of these cases are considered severe (called hyperemesis gravidarum, leading to a loss of >5% of prepregnancy body weight), all forms of pregnancy-related nausea can affect quality of life.[2] Compared with the volume of literature regarding the pathogenesis and treatment of pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting in general, few studies look at nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVEP).
Results: We identified 135 potentially relevant records; only 6 studies met the final criteria. Of the total 508 subjects, 256 and 252 subjects were randomly assigned to receive ginger and placebo, respectively. The use of ginger (~1 g daily) for at least 4 days is associated with a 5-fold likelihood of improvement in NVEP. Heterogeneity among the clinical studies were acknowledged in the final interpretation of results.
Conclusions: Despite the widespread use of ginger in the diet, its clinic value and safety profile in treating NVEP is still unknown. Our meta-analysis suggests that ginger is an effective nonpharmacological treatment for NVEP.