Mar 23 2009
Higher Order Multiples By the Numbers
I think when there is a lot of attention placed on a higher order multiple (HOM) birth, people tend to forget that these births aren’t common. When you watch Jon and Kate Plus 8, read about Nadya Suleman and her octuplets or watch your local news and see a segment on a triplet (or more) family, it can make you think these births happen all the time. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), HOM births in the U.S. are decreasing.
The latest statistics, which were recently made public, are from 2006. According to these numbers, which have been broken down by Mothers of SuperTwins there were:
- 137,085 twin births
- 6,118 triplet births
- 355 quadruplet births
- 67 quintuplet (or more) births
What does this all mean? Well, it means, in my opinion, most fertility clinics are being more responsible than we may have given them credit for in light of the recent octuplet birth. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine published guidelines in the 1990’s aimed at reducing the number of HOM births by limiting the number of embryos transferred during assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures. The studies indicate this is working.
Why make an effort to reduce HOM pregnancies/births? The goal of any type of ART is to have one baby. Yes, four is a blessing. Four healthy girls born at 28 weeks and 2 days is a miracle. Not everyone in the same situation has as successful a pregnancy. A woman with a HOM pregnancy is at serious risk of complications such as pre-term labor, hypertension related complications (pregnancy-induced hypertension, toxemia, preeclampsia), and even carpal tunnel syndrome. The babies themselves face various risks, depending on their gestational age. Common problems for babies born at 28 weeks and earlier include sucking and swallowing issues, which may lead to a feeding tube, jaundice, lung development and blood transfusions. The NICU is a scary place when you have one, let alone multiple infants, requiring round the clock treatment.
Am I hypocrite? Here I am with four beautiful children, yet I wouldn’t wish a HOM pregnancy on anyone. It was the roughest, most stressful 28 weeks and 2 days of my life. The outcome has been wonderful, but not every family has this outcome.
The point I want to make from this post is this: I would hate to see more restrictions placed on ART simply because one doctor got too big for his britches and wanted to make history. The majority of reproductive endocrinologists out there approach ART with thought, care and responsibility. The majority of people who go through fertility treatments do so because they’ve thought long and hard about how to start a family and feel this is the best option for them. I know I’ve rambled a bit here and there and tomorrow I’ll get back to some of the wackier times with quadruplets, but for today I just wanted to break down HOM births a little to show you it’s not a common as the media sometime make it seem. Some of the high profile HOM births (you know which one I’m talking about) make it seem like we go in to a clinic, order up how many babies we want and boom here we come with x amount of babies. In reality, we’re a little more responsible than that. Now I’ll get off my soapbox.
4 Responses to “Higher Order Multiples By the Numbers”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Not A Member? Register for Free!
Sadia, thanks for checking that out. I would have to think multiple births are also tracked to see if there’s a trend in the births themselves. As in are the births predominately in one area of the country? But yes, DISEASE is not exactly the term I would use!