title: The very tiny baby, multiple births, and other questions about preterm deliveries.
abstract: The progressive change of the limit of viability accepted for very preterm babies has resulted in a progressive improvement of survival, but also in costs for days spent in intensive care and for numbers of severely handicapped babies. Multiple births, including twins but especially triplets and quadruplets, result in severely premature births, high death rates, high costs, and severe risk of handicap. As most supermultiple pregnancies are the result of ovulation-inducing drugs, this rise has to be limited. More than acute care, prevention is the only good solution, from both an ethical and an economical standpoint.
authors.affiliation: Hopital Cochin, Université René Descartes, Paris, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Papiernik
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007224:Infant Care; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000517:prevention & control; D011247:Pregnancy; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple