Multiple Births Up Sharply In U.S.

The number of women giving birth to three or more babies at one time has quadrupled during the last two decades, probably because of the increasing use of fertility drugs and delayed childbearing, federal health officials reported Tuesday.

The number of births involving triplets, quadruplets and quintuplets jumped to 4,594 in 1994, up from 1,005 such births 20 years earlier, according to a report released by the National Center for Health Statistics.

About one-third of the increase was attributable to the older age of women when their children were born, a factor that increases the chances of a woman producing two or more eggs at one time.

The remaining two-thirds was because of the growing use of ovulation-enhancing drugs and fertility techniques, such as in vitro fertilization.