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INFERTILITY TREATMENT AND MULTIPLE BIRTH RATES IN BRITAIN, 1938–94

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2001

M. MURPHY ,
K. HEY ,
J. BROWN ,
B. WILLIS ,
J. D. ELLIS  and
D. BARLOW
M. MURPHY
Affiliation:
Unit of Health Care Epidemiology, University of Oxford, Oxford and ICRF General Practice Research Group, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford
K. HEY
Affiliation:
Anglia and Oxford Regional Health Authority, Headington, Oxford
J. BROWN
Affiliation:
Anglia and Oxford Regional Health Authority, Headington, Oxford
B. WILLIS
Affiliation:
Maternity Unit, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, and Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading
J. D. ELLIS
Affiliation:
Maternity Unit, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
D. BARLOW
Affiliation:
Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
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Abstract

Trends in multiple birth rates are thought to have been substantially affected by subfertility treatments in the last 25 years, but there are few quantitative assessments of this. This paper examines trends in twin and higher multiple birth rates separately in Scotland, England and Wales and compares their course with corresponding multiple birth rates in the Oxford Record Linkage Study area, where the proportions following subfertility treatment are documented. National data on prescriptions for subfertility treatments reinforce the view that they have had a major effect on the trends, and currently perhaps 60% of triplet and higher order births and 15% of twins follow their use in Britain.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , April 1997 , pp. 235 - 243
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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