Chronological changes in subjective symptoms during pregnancy in nulliparous and multiparous women

To investigate chronological changes of subjective symptoms during a normal pregnancy in nulliparous and multiparous women.

Prospective data were collected using a 20-item questionnaire (general fatigue, headache, palpitation, nausea/vomiting, fever, insomnia, edema, abnormal abdominal size, urinary frequency, lumbago, fetal descent, genital bleeding, watery discharge, high frequency of uterine contraction, increase in frequency of uterine contraction, strong intensity of uterine contraction, increase in intensity of uterine contraction, no change of uterine contraction at rest, high frequency of fetal movements, strong intensity of fetal movements) at Tsushima Izuhara Hospital in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Seven hundred and twenty-nine nulliparous and 588 multiparous normal pregnant women were questioned from 1988 to 1992. A simple (chi-square test) analysis of appearance percentages in each item for every term of pregnancy was made.

Each symptom showed different chronological patterns. In the simple analysis, there were significant differences (p < 0.05) in 10 symptoms (headache, palpitation, fever, insomnia, lumbago, fetal descent, watery discharge, increase in frequency of uterine contraction, strong intensity of uterine contraction, strong intensity of fetal movements) between nulliparous and multiparous subjects. In the multiparous group, there was a higher severity in eight of the ten symptoms, except for fever and watery discharge.

The multiparous group had more complaints than did the nulliparous subjects. These normal patterns are of practical clinical use concerning subjective symptoms of pregnancy.