Healthcare expenses associated with multiple vs singleton pregnancies in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to document cost that is associated with multiple births vs singleton births in the United States.


METHODS
This was a retrospective cohort study that used a claims database. Women 19-45 years old with live-born infants from 2005-2010 were identified. Infant deliveries were identified by International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes. The cost entailed all payment made by insurers and patients. For mothers, the cost included expenses from 27 weeks before delivery to 1 month after delivery. For infants, the cost contained all expenses until their first birthday. Adjusted cost was estimated by generalized linear models after adjustment for the potential confounding variables with a gamma distribution and a log link.


RESULTS
The analysis included 437,924 eligible deliveries. Of them, 97.02% were singletons; 2.85% were twins, and 0.13% was triplets or more. Women with multiple pregnancies had higher systemic and localized comorbidities compared with women with singleton pregnancies (P < .0001). Twins and triplets or more were more likely to have stayed in a neonatal intensive care unit than were singletons (P < .0001). On average, adjusted total all-cause health care cost was $21,458 (95% confidence interval [CI], $21,302-21,614) per delivery with singletons, $104,831 (95% CI, $103,402-106,280) with twins, and $407,199 (95% CI, $384,984-430,695) with triplets or more.


CONCLUSIONS
Pregnancies with the delivery of twins cost approximately 5 times as much when compared with singleton pregnancies; pregnancies with delivery of triplets or more cost nearly 20 times as much.
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; Global Health Outcomes, Merck & Co, Inc., West Point, PA.
Elkin V
EV
Lemos
Dongmu
D
Zhang
Bradley J
BJ
Van Voorhis
X Henry
XH
Hu
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014310:Triplets; D014427:Twins; D014481:United States
cost; multiple pregnancy; triplets; twins