Is Prednisolone Useful in Treatment of Hyperemesis Gravidarum?

Objective: To compare the outcome of prednisolone versus placebo in females presenting with hyperemesis gravidarum during first trimester of pregnancy. Methods: Randomized controlled trial was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology of Jinnah Hospital, Lahore over a period of 12 months. A total of 300 patients were divided equally into two groups, i.e. prednisolone 20 mg orally 12 hourly for seven days and placebo for the same duration. Follow up in the outpatient department after one week was done to assess for continuous and/or high-frequency vomiting (as per operational definitions). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics version 22 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used to analyze data. Quantitative and qualitative variables were assessed in terms of mean/standard deviation and frequency/percentage respectively. Comparison of two study groups and stratified confounding factors (age and parity) were assessed by chi-square test (significant P-valve ≤ 0.05). Results: 28.7% of cases of the prednisolone group had continuous and/or high frequency vomiting in comparison to 46% of the placebo group (p=0.002). Conclusions: Prednisolone is effective for treating women with hyperemesis gravidarum during the first trimester of pregnancy.