Sydney, May 22 (Inditop) Twins born out of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) are more likely to be hospitalised during the first three years than spontaneously conceived twins, besides having to stay in a neonatal intensive care unit (ICU), a new study has found.
Study author Michele Hansen of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR) said the results were based on an analysis of hospital admissions for all twins born between 1994 and 2000 in western Australia.
The study compared outcomes for such assisted reproductive technology (ART) twins with spontaneously conceived twins of different sex so that the results were not influenced by specific complications that can affect identical twins who share a placenta.
“We found that twins conceived following ART treatment had a greater risk of pre-term birth, low birth weight and death compared with spontaneously conceived twins,” Hansen said, according to a TICHR release.
“ART twins stayed in hospital longer after delivery and were 60 percent more likely to be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit. They were also more likely to be admitted to hospital in their first three years of life.”
Hansen said the findings should not alarm couples undergoing ART treatment as most babies are delivered healthy or with problems that can be easily addressed.
The research was published online in Human Reproduction.