IVF twins 'sicker in early life'

A study found these babies were far more likely to be admitted to neonatal intensive care and to be hospitalised in their first three years of life.

Other work in the same journal, Human Reproduction, provides reassurance on the outcomes of children born after embryos are frozen and stored, however.

A quarter of fertility treatment babies are now born after freezing.

Evidence from 21 controlled studies showed embryos that had been frozen shortly after they started to divide had a better, or at least as good, outcome in terms of premature birth and birth weight as children born from fresh cycles of IVF or another common assisted reproductive technique called ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection).

The same cannot be said for twins born after assisted reproductive therapy (ART) when compared with naturally conceived twins.

It is known already that ART twins are at higher risk of problems such as low birth weight and premature delivery than singletons around the time of their birth, but, to a large extent, these risks exist as part of the problems associated with multiple births in...