MULTIPLE-BIRTH BOOM LINKED TO FERTILITY DRUGS, LIFESTYLES.(MAIN)

Byline: Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- The number of women giving birth to three or more babies at one time has quadrupled during the last two decades, probably because of the increasing use of fertility drugs and delayed child-bearing, federal health officials reported Tuesday.

The number of births involving triplets, quadruplets and quintuplets jumped to 4,594 in 1994, up from 1,005 such births 20 years earlier, according to a report released by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency …