A research conducted at Cheil General Hospital confirmed that malnutrition pregnant women, who experience severe morning sickness early in their pregnancy, have a higher risk of giving birth to low birth-weight infants.
|Professor Kim Min-hyoung|
The hospital stressed that pregnant women with severe morning sickness should eat the appropriate amount of nutrition as their weight can affect the health of the children in the long term.
The research team, led by Professor Kim Min-hyoung of the department of perinatology at the hospital, analyzed 4,560 pregnant women from early pregnancy to birth from March 2013 to August 2017 as part of a research on the prevalence of complications related to pregnancy and its risk factors.
As a result, the team found that 18.9 percent (555) of the pregnant women reported severe morning sicknesses such as frequent vomiting, and weight loss in their early pregnancy.
The results showed that the mass of the newborn baby did not differ significantly from those who experienced severe morning sickness in their early stages of pregnancy, but gained weight to appropriate levels, and those who did not have severe morning sickness.
However, pregnant women who had severe morning sickness and did not reach the recommended weight were 2.45 times more likely to have a low birth-weight infant.
“Maternal malnutrition in pregnancy leads to fetal malnutrition, which not only increases the risk of low birth weight infants but can also have lasting effects such as metabolic syndromes,” Professor Kim said. “After the morning sickness subdues, pregnant women have to focus on eating sufficient nutrition so that they can reach appropriate weight levels.”
The study was presented at the Pregnancy Meeting sponsored by the Society for Maternal and Fetal Medicine from Jan. 29 to Feb. 3 in the U.S.
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