title: [Spontaneously conceived twins and twins after ART: are there any differences regarding direct financial costs of delivery].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Healthcare expenditures are rising steadily. There are no data on delivery expenses of twin pregnancies. This study aims to provide data on expenses of twin deliveries and to compare expenditures of deliveries after spontaneous conception with deliveries after infertility treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort-analysis on obstetrical data of twin deliveries at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Luebeck between January 2000 and December 2008. A comparison of delivery expenses of spontaneous twin pregnancies and after infertility treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients delivering twins after infertility treatment stay 1.1 days longer at the hospital, are 2.5 years older and the number of previous pregnancies and deliveries are significantly lower compared to women after spontaneous conception of twins. In our setting fetal outcome (weeks of gestation, birthweight, APGAR, umbilical arterial pH, admission to neonatal intensive care unit etc.) and other maternal data (maternal height, maternal weight, length of surgery etc.) were not significantly different. The prolonged time spent in hospital leads to a 250 Euro higher expense per patient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Additional expenses of twin deliveries after assisted reproduction are due to a longer stay at the hospital. This prolonged stay of an average of 1.1 days was not obvious to medical reasons. Main delivery expenses for the substantial outcome-parameters are not significantly different between both groups.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein - Campus Lübeck, Luebeck, Germany. amadeus.hornemann@uk-sh.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hornemann
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Diedrich
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Beyer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Luedders
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thill
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Griesinger
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Bohlmann
mesh_terms: D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014427:Twins