Why Is This Important?

There is a high risk of adverse outcome for multiple births.[https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin/articles/2021/06/multifetal-gestations-twin-triplet-and-higher-order-multifetal-pregnancies ^1^] The outcomes are addressed in the respective indicator profiles.

Definition

Multiple births are twins, triplets, quadruplets, and higher order births. Plurality is determined by the number of fetuses delivered live or dead at any time in the pregnancy regardless of gestational age, or if the fetuses were delivered at different dates in the pregnancy. Each infant in a multiple birth is counted separately, so, for example, three triplets refers to three live born infants, not three sets of triplets and not necessarily three infants from the same triplet set. If, for example, a mother has a triplet pregnancy and one child is not live born, the two live born infants are each still considered to be one of a set of triplets, not twins.

Data Notes

Data Sources

• Birth Certificate Database, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, New Jersey Department of Health
  (https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/)
• Natality public-use data, CDC WONDER On-line Database, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  (https://wonder.cdc.gov/natality.html)

How the Measure is Calculated

• Numerator:

  Number of live births which were part of a multiple pregnancy (twin, triplet, etc.)

• Denominator:

  Total number of live births

Related Health Status Outcomes Indicators:

• Cesarean Deliveries
• Infant Mortality
• Low Birth Weight
• Preterm Births

Health Topic Pages Related to: Multiple Births

• Birth Outcomes and Infant Health