Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is apregnancy condition characterised byextreme levels of intractable nauseaand vomiting, fatigue, distortedolfaction responses and hypersalivation.Symptoms can lead to dehydration, malnutrition,and secondary complications such as Wernicke’sencephalopathy, oesophageal tears, hypocalcaemia andthyroid dysfunction (Dean and Gadsby, 2013; MacGibbonet al, 2015).An estimated 30% of pregnant women suffer highlevels of morbidity from nausea and vomiting inpregnancy (NVP) without receiving a diagnosis of HG(Gadsby and Barnie-Adshead, 2011a).
Symptoms of NVPappear on a spectrum ranging from normal to severe,and HG is considered to be at the extreme end of thatspectrum, affecting 1-1.5% of the pregnant population(Einarson et al, 2013), and accounting for approximately25 000 hospital admissions annually (Gadsby and Barnie-Adshead, 2011b).As yet, there is no internationally agreed
