Maternal and perinatal outcome in multiple gestation at VIMS, Ballari, a tertiary care hospital: A prospective study.

Background: Multiple gestation is simultaneous development of more than one fetus in uterus.Multiple pregnancies are associated with significantly higher fetal morbidity and mortality, maternal morbidity and associated health care costs. Materials and methods: Prospective study of the patients with multiple gestation admitted to labour room, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, VIMS, Ballari, a tertiary health care centre, for a period of 1 year. Results: During the period of 1 year, 65 cases were analyzed. During the period 62 were twins, 2 triplets and 1 quadruplets were reported. Incidence of multiple gestation at VIMS is 0.9%. Majority of the women were of younger age group of 21-25 years, accounting for 58.4%. And most of them were primiparas accounting to 40%. 52.3% of them had preterm labor and 40% had pre eclampsia. Anemia, premature rupture of membranes and PPH were other complications. Birth weight of majority of neonates was between 1500 ± 2000gm accounting for 41%. Some of the fetal complication were less, discordant twins were 13.8%, TRAP accounted for 1 twin gestation (rare). Hyaline membrane disease is the most common cause for neonatal mortality accounting 79.41% of neonatal deaths. Conclusion: The risks of multiple pregnancies are significant. Proper management of multiple gestation at a tertiary care hospital with good obstetric and NICU facilities can reduce the complications such as HMD/RDS and improve the neonatal outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]