Japan recorded a record 4,354 cases of twin pregnancies from assisted reproductive technology in 2023. This increase comes a year after fertility treatments were included in public health insurance coverage.
As reported by Kyodo News, quoted Sunday, June 14, the figure is up 36 percent compared to 2022. Researchers suspect the spike is related to the choice of some patients to transfer more than one embryo so that the chances of getting pregnant are greater within the limits of the insurance cycle.
Assisted reproductive technologies include procedures such as in vitro fertilization or test tube babies. In this process, the egg is fertilized outside the body, then the embryo is transferred to the uterus.
The transfer of several embryos at once can increase the chances of getting pregnant. However, this step also increases the risk of multiple pregnancies, such as twins, triplets, and even quadruplets. This type of pregnancy carries a higher risk for pregnant women.
The Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology in principle recommends only one embryo to be transferred at a time. Under certain conditions, two embryos can be transferred, including for women aged 35 years and over or patients who have not become pregnant after two or more embryo transfers.
Japan's public insurance system covers embryo transfers up to six times for women under 40 when they begin fertility treatment. For women aged 40 to 42, coverage is given up to three times.
"The insurance system needs to be reviewed by considering the potential burden of high-risk pregnancies on perinatal services," said Ayumu Ito, a lecturer at Toho University who was involved in the study, as quoted by Kyodo News.
Perinatal services are health services for mothers and babies in the period before, during, and after childbirth.
The rate of multiple pregnancies in Japan once exceeded 10 percent until 2007. After the recommendation for the transfer of one embryo was issued in 2008, the figure dropped and has remained around 3 percent since 2014.
However, according to an analysis of a study of the Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology database, the figure rose to 3.8 percent in 2023.
Most of the cases in 2023 were twin pregnancies. The study also recorded 69 cases of triplets and six cases of quadruplets.
In the same report, researchers found the total number of assisted reproductive technology procedures also increased. The transfer of two or more embryos rose especially in the age group of 41 years and above.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
