Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy: Relationship with temperament, character

Objective

In this study, we aimed to investigate the temperament and character dimensions of women with nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy.

Methods

A hundred consecutive women with or without nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) enrolled in the study. They were examined by using the temperament and character inventory and prospectively scored NVP of them using the Rhodes’ system. These scores and demographic data were compared and P < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results

Women with NVP were scored lower in HA4 (less fatigability and asthenia; P = 0.029), C2 (less emphatic; P = 0.001) compared to women without NVP. Among 74 pregnant women with NVP 29 of them had mild, 41 had moderate and four of them had severe NVP according to the Rhodes’ score. NS2 (impulsiveness), NS3 (extravagance) and total NS scores showed negative correlation with Rhodes scores (r = −0.246, P = 0.014; r = −0.216, P = 0.031 and r = −0.219, P = 0.029, respectively). C3 (helpfulness) scores were positively correlated with Rhodes’ scores (r = 0.234, P = 0.019).

Conclusion

These results suggest that NVP in early pregnancy has distinctive temperament and character dimensions compared to non-NVP women in early pregnancy.