The Australian Bureau of Statistics notes that the number of confinements resulting in a multiple birth had been increasing consistently since the 1970s. In 2012, there were 4,480 confinements resulting in a multiple birth; of these, 59 were triplets or higher order. This number of confinements was 34% higher than the number recorded in 1991 (3,355 confinements), and 1.8% lower than the number recorded in 2011 (4,560 confinements).
AMBA’s Patron, Associate Professor Mark Umstad, spoke at the AMBA Convention, held in October, and said that the drop in multiple birth rates was directly linked to revised Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) guidelines and policies of self-regulation regarding the number of embryos transferred.
In an article that Prof Umstad wrote with Lyndon Hale, Yueping A. Wang and Elizabeth A. Sullivan: “Multiple deliveries: The reduced impact of in vitro fertilisation in Australia”, it was noted that the number of twins born in Australia steadily increased from 2,420 sets in 1983 to 4,458 sets in 2010. At one stage, almost 25% of all twin deliveries in Australia were a consequence of assisted reproductive technologies, but that proportion had dropped to just 16%, which is directly related to a significant increase in single rather than multiple embryo transfers.
Prof Umstad said, "Multiple pregnancies and births are associated with significantly higher risks of maternal, neonatal and childhood complications than those seen in singleton pregnancies and births. Multiple births as a result of assisted fertility peaked in 2002 and have been dropping since then. It is very pleasing to see that self-regulation by our infertility specialists has produced a continuing decline in the number of multiple births related to infertility treatments.”
For more information see AMBA's Press Release.
