Pregnancy loss in mothers of multiple births and in mothers of singletons only.
We compared pregnancy loss in mothers of multiple births and in mothers of singletons only. The index of pregnancy loss used for purposes of the present analysis is: the ratio of total pregnancies to total maternities consisting of live births. Mothers of one set of like-sexed twins and mothers of one set of unlike-sexed twins had greater pregnancy loss than did mothers of singletons only. Women who had higher-order multiple births comprised only 5% of our sample; in terms of their pregnancy loss these women were similar to mothers of singletons only. Data on whether women ever had difficulty becoming pregnant, and the type of therapy received to aid in conception showed that mothers of twins had greater difficulty becoming pregnant than did mothers of singletons. Among women with difficulty becoming pregnant, pregnancy loss was greater than among those who reported no difficulty. In our sample, 4.3% of mothers of multiple births and 3.4% of mothers of singletons only received hormonal therapy, some of which included FSH or clomiphene citrate.
D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005300:Fertility Agents, Female / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple
D005300:Fertility Agents, Female