Multiple Births

Essay by Vishal AryaHigh School, 10th gradeA+, January 1997

download word file, 4 pages 4.3

Downloaded 67 times

This essay deals with the causes, probabilities, and dangers dealing with the occurrence of "multiple births." Extremely well-written, well-reasearched paper.

Multiple births are rare in humans with twins as being the most common form of this

event. Multiple births can arise in many different combinations of ways but the

probability of giving birth to more than one child remains fairly constant when compared

to the entire human race. The chances of multiple births can also vary from race and

genetic background. Scientist and researchers do not know what the exact cause of these

variations is but many of them feel that it is caused by hormone differences between

different racial groups and/or the difference in social class.

        The prenatal and infant mortality is much higher in multiple pregnancies than in

pregnancies that only involves one child. The danger of premature birth also increased

with the higher number of offspring that are involved.

In many multiple births, not all of

the children survived to childhood or were born dead. Through the advances in

technology, the survival rate of infants born in a multiple pregnancy has increased. The

first quintuplets, five babies born in a single pregnancy, to survive in medical history

were the Dionne quintuplets.

        The use of drugs that treat female sterility, or fertility drugs, may increase the

chances of giving birth to multiple children. These drugs cause the ovaries to release an

egg once a month but in some cases they release more than one egg, sometimes releasing

several at a time, increasing the chances of a multiple birth. The drug clomiphene citrate

is one of the most widely taken fertility drug and has resulted in the birth of twins about

once in every twelve births, much greater than the chances of the birth of natural twins.

        Twins are...