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With these twins, fame comes in a double helping.
The number of twins born to American women has risen dramatically over the past three decades, a new government study shows.
The twin birth rate rose 76 percent from 1980 through 2009, according to report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention that was released Wednesday. While 189 out of every 10,000 births was a twin delivery in 1980, in 2009, 333 out of 10,000 births involved twins.
Put another way, in 2009 one in every 30 babies born in the United States was a twin, as compared to one in every 53 babies born in 1980.
Researchers say that the uptick in twin births is due to both the increased use of infertility treatments and the tendency for women to delay child-birth till they are older.
The increase in twin births is concerning, said the study’s lead author Joyce A. Martin, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
“It’s really important to note that outcome for twins is much less positive than for singleton pregnancies,” Martin said. “Twins tend to be born earlier and smaller.. Their mothers are more likely to require hospitalization. And the twins themselves are more likely than singletons to require hospitalization."
But, Martin added, “although they are at greater risk overall, most twin births do very well.”
The rate of twinning isn’t the same all over the country. In New Mexico, for example, 223 out of 10,000 births were twin deliveries. But in Connecticut the number was far higher: 459 out of 10,000 births.
The increases seen by Martin and her colleagues also varied by race and ethnic group. The biggest increase in twins was among white non-Hispanic mothers. For them, the rate of twins doubled over the past three decades.
Interestingly, black women have had a higher rate of twinning all along. Nobody knows why this is, but experts assume it’s mostly explained by genes, just as the tendency to twin seems to run in certain families, said Dr. Joseph Sanfilippo, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and director of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
It’s clear that there are big variations in women’s tendency to have twins, Sanfilippo said. That can be due to genetics and environment. Rates vary widely from country to country, Sanfilippo said. Yoruba has the highest rate with 450 to 500 sets of twins per 10,000, he added.
The big increases Martin and her colleagues have seen in the U.S. in white non-Hispanic women have almost caught them up with black women.
While the rise in the rate of twins occurred in every age group, the biggest surges were in women 30 and older. From 1980 to 2009, the rate of twins increased 76 percent among women aged 30 to 34 and nearly 100 percent for women aged 35 to 39. Among women aged 40 and older the rate surged more than 200 percent, the Martin and her colleagues reported.
Nobody knows exactly why older women are more prone to twinning, Sanfilippo said. But the most likely explanation is that older women have older eggs.
While these older eggs still have DNA that is intact enough to produce a healthy baby, the mechanisms that allow the fertilized egg to grow and divide may be somewhat compromised and this is what may lead to more twinning.
“The egg is the orchestra leader,” Sanfilippo explained. “If it’s been sitting around in the ovaries for 35 to 40 years it doesn’t work as well. Certainly not as well as one that is just 25 years old.”
Ultimately older moms are only responsible for one third of the increase in twins, Martin said. The rest of the surge is due to increasing use of infertility therapies like in vitro fertilization.
And that’s something that doctors and patients can control. These days more and more infertility centers are choosing to put only one embryo back into a woman’s uterus during IVF, hoping to stem the surge in multiple births.
The hope, Sanfilippo said, is that this will lead to healthier moms and babies.
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Believe it or not, my daughter had back to back twins approx. 19 months apart!
Sadly, the fun of having twins has been reduced by moms using fertility medicines which greatly increase the chance. I always thought twins were a fun thing to happen to people, when of course, it happened by chance.
I think one set would be enough for me, cheezy! Your daughter is either crazy or very careless - or maybe just exceptionally loving!!
When I was in college, I dated a guy whose father was not only the brother of a pair of identical twins, but an identical twin himself. Also, my adopted grandmother had a twin sister; their mother gave birth to stillborn twin boys about a year and half before she had my adopted grandmother and her sister.
Are they her only children? If so look out I have 3 sets back to back!!!!!!!
i'm drunk and every body looks like a twin to me...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxKCPjcvbys
I am very interested in learning of other women who only have twins due to double ovulation. I have no single births only 3 sets of twins.(My profile pic is of my twins)
^^ how is it "less fun" to have twins based on what other people are having? a family is not just mom/dad/boy/girl. get over yourself.
Hopefully, none of the twins will turn into Teabaggers or sump'n similar.
Just hopin'....
Huh?
Please don't bring politics into this.
I know three sets of invitro twins. Now all in school. ALL have issues. Mainly- Autism and allergies to peanuts, strawberries and such.
Is this a common issue for the invitro population?
We have an IVF child and know many other IVF children. Food allergies and autism are more common these days. It isn't a result of IVF.
My youngest child is autistic and there aren't any sets of twins in the special ed preschool that she attends. The parents of the other children do appear to be on the older side. I'm 34 and appear to be the youngest mom of any of the 23 students. I think there's something about parental age that raises the risk of autism regardless of whether the pregnancy was natural or high-tech. My children who were born in my 20's do not have autism, but the one born in my 30's does.
Crimson wife
Interesting. I wish you and your kiddo a great 2012.
I have 3 sets of twins! Today is my oldest sets 18th Birthday!!!!
My grandma used to tell me that her father's siblings were 3 sets of twins. I never believed her and I had my own twins and then I was convinced she told the truth!
My mother's uncle and his wife had 7 sets of twins! At least one twin from each set survived, and I think they had a total of three full sets that survived. This was in the second decade of the 1900's. My boyfriends uncle (by marriage)- had a set of triplet siblings. Sadly, they were born very prematurely and did not make it.
My twins were all preemies too, they are all fine though thank god
Duh, twinning..
I'm a twin and enjoy the close bond I have with my sister. Luckily my mom did a great job carrying us since we were born only a day before our due date and we were both almost 7 pounds! We've had our problems though (nothing mentally wrong but we had twin language which delayed our progress at first and were both diagnosed as type 1 diabetics on the same day which made the doctors freak out). I just wish people would stop asking such stupid questions when they realize we're twins.
The most common stupid question my twin sister and I get when we are together is . . . are you sisters or are you all twins?
in many cases, going off birth control seems to bring on multiple births. It is dissapointing the article didn't mention fraternal vs identical. The age of the egg theory is in question in my mind until that point is cleared up.
LES TWINS! OMG! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!
I have a set of boy and girl twins. Did not use invitro! Were born a month early, she weighed 6 pounds 1 oz. and he weighed 5 pounds 5 oz. Both were 19 1/2 inches long. Born in 2006.
I was 27 when I got pregnant with my twins.
In a gifted program out in Ohio, there's only two sets of twins, one identical and one not. At first , I didn't know there were the identical ones, and i saw one to my right, then I looked to my left, and there was the other. I didn't know how she had different clothes on each time until I realized there were two, and both red-heads with the same glasses!
twin result from radiation poisoning
or maybe all the fertility drugs we piss into the rivers
chemicals that we dont filter out at the drinking water treatment plants
not to hard to figure that out lol
the radiation thing was a joke
mayyyybbbbeeeeeeeeee
I think twins are cool! I've been friends with twins on and off my whole life. I make it a point to notice and understand the differences between identical twins so as to treat each one as the individual that they are.
I'm an identical twin (a real twin). Yes I got called by my brothers name and we got looks when together. No my mother did not take anything.
Be careful about claiming identical twinning is more "real" than any other kind of twinning. I don't think parents of fraternal twins get so offended at this (I don't, mine are spontaneous fraternal b/g) but I've noticed parents of IVF twins are very defensive when you suggest that IVF twins are different than spontaneous twins (just as fraternal twins are different than identical).
maybe they get defensive because they don't feel "naturally " blessed.
What people don't realize is that all identical twins (myself included) all think of themselves as "real twins". Seriously though, if you use IVF and have twins they were a production of science, not nature. I also think I'm better than type 2 diabetics since I'm type 1 (as do my type 1 sisters). It's just the weird things people think.
I'm a parent of identical twins and think that IVF twins aren't the real deal. Because they AREN'T! If you artificially create twins by implanting more than one fertalized egg its not the same. Kind of like a manufactured diamond. Its not quite the same as the real thing. Sorry. Just my feelings about it.
Does that mean that if one child is concieved by IVF, it's less real than one who wasn't?
My dad has twin brothers and twins also run on my mother's side of the family but further down the line. I always knew I had the possibility of having twins but never expected them. In 2004, I had a singleton and in 2009 by surprise and completely spontaneously, I had fraternal twins (boy and girl). They were born a month early...the boy stayed 6 days in the hospital while the girl stayed 12 days but they did just fine. They are almost 3 now, and are such a hoot. Certainly a blessing!
I am an identical twin born in 1979. My sister and I have had times of not talking at all - for years - but now we are really close. I am glad to have her in my life - no one else understands me like her! We were born on schedule (my parents didn't even know they were having twins because we had the same heart beat!) and I weighed over 7 pounds; my sister weighed almost 6. We don't or haven't had any major health problems except that I suffer from allergies - her not so much!
I am a twin born in 1987 one month early my mom was thirty eight when she had me also i was seven pounds 13oz and had a text book cord doctors said it was amazing and my twin was 6 pounds 9oz
None of my 3 sets of twins are identical,I have a set of girls that are 18, boy and girl set that are 16 and a boy and girl set that are 12. I did not use fertility drugs, I was very young when I had them.They were all premature.
This is not some big mystery. Society is having babies at a MUCH older age than they were a generation ago. People put careers first and then think about a family later (not saying this is right or wrong). As a result infertility issues may come into play and the appropriate treatments (Clomid, IUI, IVF etc) used are resulting in higher twin rates. As the father of IVF twins I can tell you the success rates (see SART) are approaching unbelievable levels from even a decade ago. They've nearly perfected the science of fertility.
There is no way it is simply the increased age of the women having children that is accounting for a rate of 76 period increase.
1 factor alone? No way.
Why? Because the US is not the only country in the world. Is this happening world wide?
I was 16 when I had my first set almost 18 when I had my second set and 22 with my third set so I am not convinced with the age thing
I had my fraternal b/g twins at 25, I don't fit the stereotype either.
I know several women in their 30's who got pregnant naturally with multiples (including 2 who each had identical triplets!) but none of the women I know who got pregnant in their 20's did. I think there is something beyond just high-tech treatments causing older women to have a higher rate of multiples.
in other countries they are more predisposed to giving generous maternity leaves and supporting working people having their families at a healthier more viable time in their life. Here a working woman who also has a family is often a hardship. Our values suck. And you will see the results of this in the future generations.
I hate to say it, but if in fact these increased numbers of twins are real, there may be something going on with
what: hormones invading our food supply and "medical" fertilization.
I am a twin! My twin sister and I are 31 years old . we are identical we have always been healthy. we also were 8 pounds each and 20 inches long at birth and were 2 weeks late . there were acually 4 sets in our grade growing up! I have loved the close bond we have always shared.but I do understand the concern most twins are very small and have problems. I have 3 children but no twins. just some thoughts from a twin!
I know a number of sets of twins and 1 natural set of identical triplets. All are healthy normal kids! It's time for all the experts to stop with the garbage statistics and let nature take its course. Somehow we have managed to screw up the world rather badly. Autism in single child births has sky-rocketed. Low birth weights are blamed on the mothers - smoking, eating, drinking . . . breathing! And don't even start me on fertility clinics.
Greg-2438150 - If identical twins are 'real twins', what are fraternal twins? Fake? Also, are spontaneous twins more special than twins concieved by IVF or ovulation-inducing drugs? As an expecting father of multiples, it bothers me that peoples' (even strangers) first question is "Did you take fertility drugs?". Many couples seek fertility treatment, but only those who concieve multiples have to endure the questioning and judgement.
I don't think he means to be offensive, I think what he means is that identical twins are "mirror" twins and the word "twin" is originally intended to describe something that resembles the other.
I have fraternal twins and don't feel offended by his statement. I think it's natural to feel a sense of ownership over what a person is. I'm not against people who choose IVF, but I do question what the consequences will be for using it. There are studies that show mother's who conceived twins via IVF struggle more post-partum than do mother's who spontaneously conceive twins. Which makes sense, IVF is in a way forcing something on one's body that is not prepared (otherwise it would have done so on its own) for that task.
http://
humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/6/1490.full
I had my twins at 25 and still got asked if I used fertility drugs. Nothing wrong with using them, but definitely shows how rude and uneducated people are if they assume that's now the only way.
I think people like the octo-mom have made this issue. Ofcourse there is an increased chance for multiples with fertility and then there are a few freak cases that take terrible risks with their life and the babies such as octo-mom. All three sets of my twins were due to the fact that I double ovulate.(We found this out after the 3rd set) I think all children are a blessing regardless of fertility;natural occurence,IVF or whatever. I do think that putting your self and eight babies at risk is selfish and irresponsible though
I agree. My husband and I were asked if we used fertility on many occasions (which we did not). I was asked even more about a c-section (which I did not have). The frustrating part is the fact that many people simply "assume" fertility and c-sections when it comes to twins.