The hormone progesterone is not the answer for women bearing twins and facing premature birth, researchers reported last night.
The hormone treatment has been tested as a way of reducing the number of stillbirths and underweight babies arising from multiple pregnancies.
According to a report in The Lancet last night, it shows promise as a treatment for women carrying a single baby.
But there is no evidence that it works when a woman has multiple pregnancies.
The findings come from a study of some 500 women carrying twins in the UK. Women were randomly allocated a progesterone treatment or a fake treatment.
The researchers found that nearly 25 per cent of women gave birth prematurely – or lost a baby before 34 weeks after taking progesterone treatment. This compared with 19 per cent of those who had a fake treatment.
Researcher Professor Jane Norman, of Edinburgh University, UK, writes: "Progestogens are not effective in women with twin pregnancy for prevention of preterm delivery."
The Lancet on-line June 11 2009
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