The epidemiology of neonatal death in twins. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1981 Oct 01;141(3):252-6
Date
10/01/1981Pubmed ID
7282805DOI
10.1016/s0002-9378(16)32628-xScopus ID
2-s2.0-0019503069 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 103 CitationsAbstract
The epidemiology of twin pregnancies was studied with the use of data on 7,001 live-born twins from the Georgia neonatal surveillance network for the period 1974-1978. A cesarean section did not appreciably reduce the risk of neonatal death for a twin with a vertex presentation. The relative risk of such a neonatal death was 1.4 after adjustment was made for birth weight. A cesarean section did improve the outcome for breech and other presentations. Twins had a sixfold higher neonatal mortality rate than had singleton infants (p less than 0.001), which can be explained on the basis of distribution of birth weights. Twins had a weight-specific mortality rate equivalent to or significantly less than that for singletons after adjustment was made for birth weight. The relative risk of neonatal death for Twin 2 compared with Twin 1 was not significant. Breech presentation was more common in twins than in singletons, and for Twin 2 more than for Twin 1. As birth weight increased, the number of breech presentations decreased for Twin 2 but not for Twin 1. To reduce the high neonatal mortality rate for twins, the objective should be to reduce the incidence of low-birth-weight twins, rather than to increase the cesarean section rate for them.
Author List
McCarthy BJ, Sachs BP, Layde PM, Burton A, Terry JS, Rochat RMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Birth OrderBirth Weight
Breech Presentation
Cesarean Section
Delivery, Obstetric
Female
Georgia
Humans
Infant Mortality
Infant, Newborn
Pregnancy
Risk
Twins