Affordability plays an important role in the utilisation of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and non-IVF fertility treatments. Fertility treatments are associated with increased risk of multiple births. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between the affordability of fertility treatments across US states and the percentage of multiple births due to natural conception, non-IVF treatments, and IVF, and the association between these percentages and state-specific multiple birth rates.
State-specific per capita disposable personal income and state-specific infertility insurance mandates were used as measures of affordability. Maternal age-adjusted percentages of multiple births due to natural conception, non-IVF treatments, and IVF were estimated for each state using birth certificate and IVF data. Scatter plots and regression analysis were used to explore associations between state-level measures of affordability, the percentage of multiple births due to natural conception and fertility treatments, and state-specific multiple birth rates.
In 2013, age-adjusted contributions of natural conception, non-IVF fertility treatments, and IVF to multiple births in US were 58.2, 22.8, and 19.0% respectively. States with greater affordability of fertility treatments had higher percentages of multiples due to IVF and lower percentages due to natural conception. Higher percentages of multiples due to IVF and lower percentages due to natural conception were associated with higher state-specific multiple birth rates.
Increasing affordability of fertility treatments may increase state-specific multiple birth rates. Policies and treatment practices encouraging single-gestation pregnancies may help reduce multiple births resulting from these treatments.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 March 2023.
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Outputs from Paediatric & Perinatal Epidemiology
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Outputs of similar age from Paediatric & Perinatal Epidemiology
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Altmetric has tracked 34,411,289 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 65th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,291 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.8. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 53% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 29 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 34th percentile – i.e., 34% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
