All issues > Volume 37(4); 1994

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1994;37(4):537-546. Published online April 15, 1994.

A Clinical Study on Twins

Kwang Sin KS Kim¹, In Ah IA Cha¹, Kyoung Sim KS Kim¹, Ki Bok KB Kim¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Christian Hospital Kwangju, Korea

Abstract

We observed 233 twins and 2 triplets cases among 16,774 newborns delivered at Kwangju Christian Hospital during 5 years from Jan. 1986 to Dec. 1990. The results obtained are as follows : 1) The overall incidence of twin pregnancy was 1 : 72 (1.4%) and that of triplets 1 : z8387 (0.01%). 2) The average male-female sex ratio of twins was 1.06 : 1 with male predominating and 86 : were same sex pairs (male-male 43.8%, female-female 41.3%), only 14.0% being different. 3) The incidence of twin delivery tended to be more prevalent in primigravidas. 4) More than half of all cases (248/466) had birth weight less than 2,500g, with 33% falling into the range of 2,001~2,500g. No statistically significant differences of birth weight were noted between both sexes or among birth sequences. 5) At 5 minute after birth, Apgar score below 7 were found in 9.5% of the first born and in 11.6% of second born twins, with no significant difference noted. 6) The perinatal mortality rate of twins were 94.4/1,000 and the perinatal mortality rates of first and second twins were 77.2 and 111.6, resp., but not significantly different. The larger the difference of birth weight between co-twins, the shorter thee gestational age and the less the birth weight between co-twins, the shorter the gestation age and the less the birth weight of twins, the larger became the perinatal mortality. But, it was not related to the parities or maternal ages. 7) The overall principal causes of perinatal death were still birth (45.5%), respiratory distress syndrome (36.4%) and immaturity (11.4%) in descending order.

Keywords :Twins