Pregnancy and cognition: Effects of nausea and mood

The current study examined objective cognitive functioning and self-ratings of nausea and mood in pregnant women. This study of nausea and cognition in pregnancy among a diverse sample of pregnant women in California ( N= 52) is part of a larger NIH-funded project to investigate factors related to nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. The current study examined objective cognitive functioning and self-ratings of nausea and mood in pregnant women, using a longitudinal, repeated measures design across the three trimesters of pregnancy and post-partum. Depression scores were largely unrelated to cognitive performance after the effects of somatic symptoms were removed. More nausea was associated with better Digit Span scores; otherwise, nausea was unrelated to cognition. HLM analyses were conducted: significant positive linear effects of time were observed with Boston Naming and Digit Span. A significant acceleration was observed with CVLT Long Delay Free Recall, and a significant deceleration was observed with Letter-Number Sequencing. The point of inflection for both the acceleration and deceleration was between the second and third trimesters. No significant effects of time were observed for FAS, Animals, CVLT 1-5 Total, Judgment of Line Orientation, or CVLT Short Delay Free Recall. Nausea and cognitive symptoms of depression were largely unrelated to cognition during pregnancy. HLM analyses suggest that conditions and/or factors of pregnancy contribute to cognitive changes over time, but that neither the presence nor direction of changes were consistent across cognitive domains. Comparisons between observed change over time and expected change over time for the various measures are discussed.