Perinatal outcome of twin pregnancies in women of advanced age

Document Type

Article

Department

Obstetrics and Gynaecology (East Africa)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of twin pregnancies in women of advanced age (35 years) compared with women aged 25–29 years old.

METHODS: This population-based retrospective study compared perinatal outcome of twin pregnancies in primiparae aged 35 or older (N 5 240) to that of twin pregnancies in primiparae aged 25–29 years (N 5 940). Observed outcomes are adjusted for intermediate (mode of conception and hypertension during pregnancy) and confounding variables (level of education). The possible effect of zygosity and chorionicity was tested in a subset of this database, recorded in the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey (EFPTS).

RESULTS: In twin pregnancies, maternal age of 35 or over is associated with a lower incidence of preterm birth [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.44–0.79] and low birthweight (AOR 0.75, 95% CI 0.58–0.98) compared with younger women. Differences in zygosity and chorionicity between both cohorts do not seem to affect the result.

CONCLUSIONS: In comparison with primiparae aged 25–29 years, perinatal outcome of twin pregnancies is more favourable in primiparae aged 35 or over.

Comments

This work was published before the author joined Aga Khan University.

Publication (Name of Journal)

Human Reproduction

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