Healthcare expenses associated with multiple vs singleton pregnancies in the United States

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to document cost that is associated with multiple births vs singleton births in the United States. Study Design This was a retrospective cohort study that used a claims database. Women 19-45 years old with live-born infants from 2005-2010 were identified. Infant deliveries were identified by International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes. The cost entailed all payment made by insurers and patients. For mothers, the cost included expenses from 27 weeks before delivery to 1 month after delivery. For infants, the cost contained all expenses until their first birthday. Adjusted cost was estimated by generalized linear models after adjustment for the potential confounding variables with a gamma distribution and a log link. Results The analysis included 437,924 eligible deliveries. Of them, 97.02% were singletons; 2.85% were twins, and 0.13% was triplets or more. Women with multiple pregnancies had higher systemic and localized comorbidities compared with women with singleton pregnancies (P