HL Deb 01 February 1984 vol 447 cc756-7WA
Lord Houghton of Sowerby

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the proportion of women taking so-called "fertility drugs", whose pregnancies result in multiple births.

Lord Glenarthur

No information is available centrally regarding either the number of women taking fertility drugs or the number of cases in which such treatment leads to multiple births. Published evidence1 on two commonly used drugs suggests that the incidence of multiple births is as follows:

Clomiphene Citrate 6–10 per cent. Gonadotrophic Hormones 15–35 per cent.

1. D. T. Baird—Prescribers' Journal 1979, 19, 99.

Goodman and Gilman—The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics.6th edition.