PURPOSE The study aimed to investigate whether the association between birth weight and the risk of breast cancer can be confounded by familial factors, such as shared environment and common genes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eligible were all female like-sexed twins of the Swedish Twin Registry, born during the period 1926-1958 and alive in 1973. Data were obtained from birth records, and the fina...

Twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) is a specific condition complicating 10-15% of monochorionic multiple pregnancy. Intertwin vascular anastomoses and transfusion is a normal event. Syndrome develops when blood flow is unbalanced. Recent studies suggest a paucity of bi-directional superficial anastomoses failing to compensate for hemodynamic imbalance resulting from unidirectional transfu...

Limited data is available that estimates the effect of gestational weight gain on maternal and neonatal outcomes in term twin pregnancies in obese women. A historical cohort study of 831 obese (BMI ≥30.0 kg/m2) women in Missouri delivering 1,662 liveborn, term (≥37 weeks gestation) twin infants in 1998-2005 was conducted. Three gestational weight gain categories were examined: <25 pounds, 25-42...

OBJECTIVES Preterm birth contributes to a range of healthcare problems amongst infants surmounting to sizeable healthcare costs. Twin pregnancies are at particular risk of preterm birth. The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of vaginal progesterone gel for the prevention of preterm birth in twin pregnancies. METHODS An economic evaluation was conducted alongside a r...

Background: Despite advances in obstetrics and gynaecology, the perinatal mortality among twins still remains high. This study compares the perinatal outcome of first and second twin. Materials & Methods: A prospective study was conducted at Institute of maternal and Child Health, Calicut over a period of one year; 2005 to 2006. 200 (antenatal women with) twin pregnancies were followed up from ...

BACKGROUND Studies have found associations between low birth weight and increased risks of cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. However, these associations could be due to confounding by genetic or socioeconomic factors. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed a study on Swedish like-sexed twins with known zygosity who were born from 1926 to 1958. First, to obtain an overall effect of birth weight ...

There have been indications that intrauterine and early extrauterine growth can influence childhood mental and motor function. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the influence of intrauterine growth restriction and early extrauterine head growth on the neurodevelopmental outcome of monozygotic twins. Thirty-six monozygous twin pairs were evaluated at the corrected age of 12 to 4...

This report is the first case of delayed interval twin delivery in which the first infant and mother survived without major morbidity following transport to another facility. In addition, this case is only the second report of asynchronous delivery in which both twins survived and neither suffered any major morbidity. A 30-year-old G5P1031 African American female with a diamniotic/dichorionic t...

Heritability estimates of birth weight have been inconsistent. Possible explanations are heritability changes during gestational age or the influence of covariates (e.g. chorionicity). The aim of this study was to model birth weights of twins across gestational age and to quantify the genetic and environmental components. We intended to reduce the common environmental variance to increase herit...

Objective To estimate the independent association of a short cervical length (CL), positive fetal fibronectin (fFN), amniotic fluid (AF) sludge, and cervical funneling with spontaneous preterm birth in twin pregnancies. Methods Retrospective cohort study of twin pregnancies managed by a single maternal-fetal medicine practice from June 2005 to February 2014. All patients underwent transvaginal ...