The majority of women are unaware of the health risks associated with multiple pregnancy and that this is the single biggest risk of fertility treatment, such as IVF, according to a recent survey. The survey, conducted to support the One at a Time national strategy, was carried out to establish women’s attitudes to fertility treatment and multiple pregnancy.
Nearly a quarter of young women aged 18 to 24 (23%) said they were unaware that multiple pregnancy increased the risk of the babies being affected by long term conditions like cerebral palsy and that the mother could be at greater risk from complications such as pre-eclampsia.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, a leading women’s health GP, supports the One at a Time national strategy which aims to reduce the risk of multiple pregnancy from fertility treatment said: : "Every pregnancy carries risk, but the extra risks to mothers and their babies caused by multiple pregnancies as a result of fertility treatment can be avoided in many cases. When undertaking IVF, it is routine practice for at least two embryos to be implanted into the womb during a cycle of treatment. Unfortunately, there are significant health risks for both mother and babies in multiple pregnancies, and women need to weigh up these risks carefully before proceeding with implantation of more than one embryo. They should explore the most appropriate options with their fertility doctor, such as elective single embryo transfer, as to how best manage and reduce the potential risks."
The survey went on to reveal that a quarter of women thought the best thing about having twins is the fact that you have an ‘instant family’. Almost half felt the biggest challenge of having twins would be looking after more than one baby. Whilst alarmingly, only one percent recognised the potential long-term health problems as the biggest challenge.
In the UK one in four of births following IVF treatment result in either twins or triplets. The aim of each IVF cycle should be to give the best possible chance of having one live, healthy baby. One at a Time hopes to give professionals, patients and the public authoritative information to help them understand the risk of multiple pregnancy and help reduce the rate of multiple births.
There is no one size fits all solution, every fertility patient is different. All decisions about fertility treatment have to be made in partnership and based on what’s best for the individual.