Oral rehydration therapy versus intravenous rehydration therapy in the first 12 h following hospitalization for hyperemesis gravidarum: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract Objective To evaluate oral rehydration therapy (ORT) compared with intravenous rehydration therapy (IVT) in the early inpatient management of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). Methods A total of 124 women hospitalized for HG from February 10, 2021 till January 6, 2023 were randomized to ORT ( n = 61) or IVT ( n = 63) for an initial 12 h. Inclusion criteria includes women older than 18 years, with a viable intrauterine pregnancy less than 14 weeks at their first hospitalization for HG with ketonuria of at least 2+. Primary outcomes were (1) satisfaction score with allocated intervention, (2) weight change, and (3) ketonuria change at 12 h. Secondary outcomes included vomiting frequency, nausea score, serial vital signs, hematocrit and electrolyte levels at 12 h, deviation from treatment protocol (cross‐over therapy), participant recommendation of allocated treatment to a friend, and length of hospital stay. Results Primary outcomes of (1) participant satisfaction score (on a 0–10 visual numerical rating scale) was 7 (interquartile range [IQR] 5–8) versus 9 (IQR 8–10), P < 0.001; (2) weight gain was 293 ± 780 g versus 948 ± 758 g, P < 0.001; and (3) ketonuria improvement was 50/61 (82.0%) versus 49/63 (77.8%) (relative risk [RR] 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.88–1.26, P = 0.561) for ORT versus IVT, respectively. For secondary outcomes, vomiting frequency was 2.6 ± 2.7 versus 1.1 ± 1.4 episodes ( P < 0.001), participant cross‐over rate to opposing treatment 20/61 (32.8%) versus 0/63 (0%) ( P < 0.001) (in the 12‐h study period) and participant recommendation of allocated treatment to a friend rate 24/61 (39.3%) versus 61/63 (96.8%) (RR 0.41, 95% CI 0.30–0.56, P < 0.001) for ORT versus IVT, respectively. By hospital discharge, 31/61 (50.8%) of women allocated to ORT had required IVT. Other secondary outcomes of serial assessments of nausea score and vital signs, hematocrit and electrolyte levels, and length of hospital stay were not different. Conclusions ORT was inferior to IVT in two primary outcomes and three secondary outcomes. Cross‐over rate to intravenous therapy from oral therapy was 50.8% by hospital discharge. Intravenous rehydration therapy should remain as first‐line rehydration therapy in the early inpatient treatment of HG. Clinical Trial Registration The present study was registered in ISRCTN registry on December 6, 2020 with trial identification number: ISRCTN 40152556 ( https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN40152556 ). The first participant was recruited on February 10, 2021.