Prevalence and Burden of Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnant Women in Switzerland: Survey Purity 2022

Nausea with or without vomiting (Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy - NVP) in early pregnancy (before 9 and up to 16 weeks of gestation) is very common (50-80%); these symptoms rarely persist throughout pregnancy (10-20%). Even if NVP aetiology remains unknown, the cause is most likely multifactorial NVP severity can be assessed with the validated, 24-hour Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis (PUQE-24) Scale.

Management and treatment of NVP focus on reducing symptoms, improving quality of life, preventing serious complications, and minimising foetal effects of maternal pharmacologic treatment. It is advised to follow dietary and lifestyle recommendations, followed by available alternative and pharmacological treatments.

Swissmedic has recently approved doxylamine as a drug for the treatment of NVP symptoms in combination with pyridoxine (Cariban®, Effik SA, Switzerland). Its efficacy and safety have been widely studied. A 2014 data re-analysis of a previous meta-analysis took into account a total of 139414 women in reports about the safety of antihistamines and 129108 in reports about the safety of doxylamine. In these studies, 23485 women were exposed to antihistamines and 14624 were exposed to doxylamine. Neither increased foetal risk for congenital malformations nor other adverse pregnancy outcomes were demonstrated. The safety of the drug is additionally supported by extensive international literature.

Moreover, a recent study showed that Cariban® behaves as a prolonged-release formulation, which correlates with rapid absorption and arising of the actives in the plasma, but also long-lasting and sustained bioavailability, especially when administered following the complete posology. These results would underlie its demonstrated efficacy to relieve nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) under clinical settings.

The exposure to doxylamine-pyridoxine in pregnancy (or to the combination of doxylamine and pyridoxine) is classified as safe, and its use is recommended as first-line therapy of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG) Guidelines, by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada and organizations such as Mother to Baby (formerly known as Organization of Teratogen Information Services.