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- Title
Birth Weight, Birth Order Influence Twins' Higher Perinatal Mortality Rates.
- Authors
Witwer, M.
- Abstract
The article presents a study about perinatal mortality rate among twins due to birth weight and birth order. The perinatal mortality rate among twins is approximately five times that among single infants, according to two large studies of twin and singleton births in the United States. Twins' higher mortality rate appears to result from both their greater frequency of low birth weight and their poorer survival at higher weights. Women who delivered twins were slightly older and of higher parity, gained more weight during pregnancy, weighed more at delivery and delivered at an earlier gestational age than women with singleton births. In addition, mothers of twins were 2.5 times more likely to have hypertension or anemia during pregnancy and were three times more likely to have premature detachment of the placenta. There was no increased risk of pyelonephritis, placenta previa or diabetes, either gestational or insulin-dependent. Twins were smaller at birth than singleton infants, had lower Apgar scores and were more likely to have congenital anomalies. Birth order and birth weight modify twins' increased rates of fetal, neonatal and perinatal death. The researchers found that among women who began pregnancy either underweight or at normal weight, there was a linear increase in twins' birth weights as maternal weight gain increased.
- Subjects
PERINATAL death; TWINS; BIRTH weight; NEWBORN infants; MULTIPLE birth; SOCIAL indicators; HEALTH surveys
- Publication
Family Planning Perspectives, 1990, Vol 22, Issue 4, p188
- ISSN
0014-7354
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2135616