Comparison of the Effects of Ondansetron and Ginger on Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy: A Clinical Trial

Nausea and vomiting are the most common complications of pregnancy. In order to minimize the consumption of chemical drugs and prevent their side effects in pregnant women, this study was conducted with aim to compare the effect of Ondansetron versus Ginger on nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.        

This double-blind clinical trial study was conducted in 2018 on 110 pregnant women with nausea and vomiting in 10-15 weeks of pregnancy who referred to health family clinics of Bandar Mahshahr. Women were randomly assigned to two groups of ginger (n=55) and ondansetron (n=55). The ginger group used 9 tablets of 500 mg consisting of dry ginger powder for three days (once every 8 hours) and the ondansetron group used 9 tablets of 4 mg ondansetron for three days (once every 8 hours). Data collection tool included a demographic questionnaire and a Rhodes index questionnaire which assessed the severity and frequency of nausea and vomiting before entering the intervention and twice a day during the study. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 22(, using Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, and independent t tests. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The mean score of the Rhodes index in the ginger group decreased from 12.61 ± 3.7 to 5.43 ± 6.23 and in the ondansetron group from 14.5 ± 4.73 to 3.89 ± 3.86 (p<0.001). Therefore, ginger was as effective as ondansetron in reducing the frequency and severity of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

Both ginger and ondansetron are effective in treating nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and the effect of ginger and ondansetron is the same with a very small difference.