Effects of Complementary Medicine on Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy: A Systematic Review

Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) is a common problem for pregnant women. Researchers have recently paid special attention to complementary medicine methods for the treatment of NVP. Regarding the high prevalence of NVP as well as maternal and fetal adverse effects of chemical drugs, the present study, focusing on clinical trials carried out in Iran, was conducted to assess safety and efficacy of different nonpharmacological methods in relieving NVP. This systematic review focused on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and assessed complementary medicine on NVP for which databases including MedLib, Magiran, Iran Medex, SID, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar search engines from 2000 to 2015 were searched. Those articles that gained score 3 or higher, according to Jadad criteria, were recruited for the study. In this study, 31 clinical trials assessing NVP were conducted on Iranian pregnant women. After removing ten articles, 21 articles with scores 3 and higher, according to Jedad criteria, were assessed. Out of 21 papers, 10 papers were about ginger, one was about cardamom, one was about lemon, two were about peppermint aromatherapy, six were about pericardium 6 (P6) acupressure, and one article about KID21 acupressure. Most studies have demonstrated a positive effect on reducing NVP; however, no adverse effect was reported. According to the results of this review, the majority of methods employed were effective in reducing the incidence of NVP, among which ginger and P6 acupressure can be recommended with more reliability.