Chances of Maternal Morbidity Can Put a Damper on the Excitement of a Twin Pregnancy

Clinical factors underlying excess risk for severe maternal morbidity include twin gestation, in vitro fertilization pregnancy, older age, black race, and immigrant status. To further examine twin pregnancy as a risk factor, investigators in France prospectively enrolled >182,300 women who gave birth, (representing about 20% of all French births annually and including 3202 twin pregnancies). Severe maternal morbidity was defined based on a composite of severe hemorrhage or hypertension, eclampsia, pulmonary embolism, stroke, organ failure, intensive care unit admission, and laparotomy after vaginal delivery.

In all, 2540 women (1.4%) experienced one or more severe maternal obstetric complications. The two most common causes were hemorrhage (…