Problems of multiple births after ART: medical, psychological, social and financial aspects

Abstract

In recent years, a growing number of infants born to migrant mothers following the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have been admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit, usually due to problems resulting from multiple birth and prematurity. Higher order multiple births have become more frequent due to increased use of ovulation-inducing drugs and reproductive techniques. Whereas in 1993 an estimated total of 30 000 babies were born worldwide after assisted conception (Lancaster, 1996), the most recent report on ART indicates that for the year 1995, 16 520 babies were born by means of ART in the USA and in Canada alone (SART/ASRM, 1998).