BACKGROUND Spontaneous reductions are a possible cause of the increased morbidity in IVF singletons. The aim of this study was to assess incidence rates of spontaneous reductions in IVF/ICSI twin pregnancies and to compare short- and long-term morbidity in survivors of a vanishing co-twin with singletons and born twins. METHODS We identified 642 survivors of a vanishing co-twin, 5237 singleto...

OBJECTIVE To assess whether there was an independent association between maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations at 24-28 weeks of gestation and preterm birth in a multicenter U.S. cohort of twin pregnancies. METHODS Serum samples from women who participated in a clinical trial of 17 α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate for the prevention of preterm birth in twin gestations (2004-2006) were ass...

BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder of complex etiology. Although strong evidence supports the causal role of genetic factors, environmental risk factors have also been implicated. This study used a co-twin-control design to investigate low birth weight as a risk factor for ASD. METHOD We studied a population-based sample of 3715 same-sex twin pairs part...

Twin gestations are commonly associated with delivery of low birth weight infants. Despite the fact that Nigeria has the highest incidence of twinning in the world, there is paucity of information on the characteristics of LBW twin infants in Nigeria. This study was con-ducted to determine the incidence and document some of the characteristics of low birth weight (LBW) twin infants. A descripti...

Background: The impact of vanishing twin (VT) syndrome on obstetric outcome is currently unknown. The aim of this study was to compare obstetric and neonatal outcomes of VT with singleton and twin deliveries after assisted reproduction and to evaluate the impact of VT on pregnancy outcome. Methods: We analyzed 130 births at our hospital between January 2000 and February 2012 that resulted from ...

O ur understanding of the causes of congenital heart defects has benefited tremendously from state-of-the-art genetic and epigenetic tools. The rapid progress is due in part to the development of novel, high-throughput, cost-effective sequencing technology—so-called next-generation sequenc-ing—that has made it possible to sequence the entire genome or all genes (whole exome sequencing). However...

It has been suggested that twinning may influence handedness through the effects of birth order, intra-uterine crowding and mirror imaging. The influence of these effects on handedness (for writing and throwing) was examined in 3657 Monozygotic (MZ) and 3762 Dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs (born 1893-1992). Maximum likelihood analyses revealed no effects of birth order on the incidence of left-handed...

The trends in British twin and higher multiple birth rates inside and outside marriage from 1938 to 1989 were reviewed for evidence of the probable impact of the use of ovulatory stimulants. After adjustment for maternal age monozygotic twin rates within marriage rose to a significant excess (of 12%) over those outside during the last two decades; a similar increase of higher multiple births wi...

BACKGROUND Low birth weight has been linked with changes in thyroid function in adulthood, but it is unknown whether fetal programming or underlying genetic and environmental factors explains the association. We hypothesized that birth weight influences the pituitary-thyroid set point in adults. METHODS A total of 152 birth weight-discordant monozygotic twin pairs with a median age of 57 year...

The purpose of this study is to present curves of estimated placental growth in twins and to evaluate the relative contribution of gestational age, zygosity, chorionicity, fusion of the placentas, sex of the individual and of the twin pair, site of the umbilical cord insertion, birth order, maternal age, and parity. Perinatal data and placental data were obtained from 6315 live-born twin pairs ...