Multiple pregnancies in Denmark 1980-1994
Westergaard, T.; Wohlfahrt, J.; Aaby, P.; Melbye, M.
Ugeskrift for laeger 160(40): 5794-5797
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0041-5782 PMID: 9782759 Document Number: 485273
The objective was to study trends in national rates of multiple pregnancies that were not explained by changes in maternal age and parity. Information on childbirths to Danish-born women were obtained from national registers. The national incidence of multiple pregnancies increased 1.7-fold during 1980-1994, the increase primarily in 1989-1994 and almost exclusively in primiparous women > or = 30 years, for whom the adjusted population-based twinning rate increased 2.7-fold and the triplet rate 9.1-fold. The proportion of multiple births among infant deaths in primiparous women > or = 30 years increased from 11.5% to 26.9%. In conclusion, the marked increase in the rate of multiple pregnancies, which in particular was observed during the 1990s and in primiparous women > or = 30 years, could not be explained by changes in maternal age or parity. Fertility-enhancing treatments are believed to have caused this increase.