Depression risk greater for parents with twins

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The research reveals the strain of coping with a multiple birth can trigger serious mental health problems.

Parents of twins are prone to anxiety, depression and sleep disorders at least a year after the birth of their children. This is true for parents who have undergone IVF as well as those who conceive twins naturally.

But parents of single children who do not suffer the same psychological trauma, researchers said.

The findings are based on research presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Conference in Barcelona.

The study also reveals that fathers are more prone to depression than mothers. Dr Leila Unkila-Kallio from Helsinki University Central Hospital, who headed the research, said men often have less support and they also have to shoulder the financial burden of coping with twins.

Dr Unkila-Kallio called on fertility clinics to aim for single pregnancies and highlighted the need for parents who sign up for IVF to undergo mental checks to assess their ability to cope with a multiple birth.

British fertility clinics have already been warned to limit the number of embryos they transfer during IVF.

The research was based on a study of 101 parents of twins and 746 parents of single babies.