The comparison of ginger and metoclopramid in treatment of pregnant women's nausea and vomiting

Nausea and vomiting are common complaints of pregnancy mainly throughout the first trimester and various herbal and synthetic drugs were used in the treatment of it. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of metoclopramide with ginger in treatment of pregnant women’s nausea and vomiting. Women with Nausea & vomiting in pregnancy, with single fetus < 20 weeks gestation, were invited to participate in this study. During a 6 months period, 60 eligible women gave consent and were randomized in a double- blind design to receive either oral ginger 1g per day or oral metoclopramide 10 mg 3 times daily. Subjects graded the severity of their nausea using visual analog scale and recorded the number of vomiting episodes in the previous 24 hours before treatment and again during 4 consecutive days while taking treatment. 60 women remained in study (30 per each group). There were no significant differences between the groups with respect to maternal age / gravidity / parity and gestational age. The visual analog scores of post therapy minus baseline nausea and vomiting episodes decreased significantly in 4th day in both groups (p<0.01). Likert scale showed that 90% in ginger group and 63.4% in metoclopramide group had improved in nausea & vomiting of pregnancy. (p= 0.04). Ginger is more effective than metoclopramide in relieving the severity of nausea & vomiting of pregnancy.