IVF twins most likely in London

London fertility clinics are producing more risky twin births than elsewhere in Britain, figures reveal.

But the capital's IVF doctors also have better success rates than the average.

Twins or triplets account for more than one in three births in some city clinics, compared with one in four births nationally.

The highest rate was at Mohammed Taranissi's Reproductive Genetics Institute near Regent's Park, with 33 per cent of live births producing twins. Overall, seven of the 15 London clinics studied had a higher twin rate than the national average.

This week the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said doctors should cut the twin or triplet rate to 10 per cent by 2012.

The fertility watchdog said the rise in IVF twins puts babies at greater risk of stillbirth and defects such as cerebral palsy.

But women desperate for a baby fear the new HFEA strategy will deny them the best chance of a family.

Today's figures, for 2005, show the NHS unit Chelsea and Westminster will have to cut the multiple rate by two thirds and Bart's by less than half. The centre for reproductive medicine at Bart's had a twin rate of 17 per cent, almost seven percentage points lower than the national average.

Mr Taranissi, whose private clinics both have a twin rate of more than 30 per cent, said: "It is crucial that we do this carefully to make sure the pregnancy rate does not drop dramatically."

It is estimated that if all IVF babies were single births, 126 fewer would die each year.

Clinics can transfer a maximum of two embryos back to a women's womb during IVF, or three if she is in her forties. The HFEA ruled out a ban on the transfer of more than one egg at a time but clinics are under pressure to cut back.