Retrospective Study of the Correlation Between Twin Pregnancies and Perinatal Outcome in Association to the Impact of Preterm Birth

BACKGROUND: Twin pregnancies make up 2% to 4% of all births. Incidence of spontaneous twin pregnancies varies around the world, with percentages ranging from 8/1000 to >17/1000 births. The variation in twin pregnancy rates is thought to be due to dizygotic pregnancies, since monozygotic pregnancies have a consistent incidence of 3.5/1000 to 4/1000 births. The incidence of twin pregnancies after the widespread use of assisted reproduction has increased significantly. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study is to investigate factors , who contribute to improve the perinatal outcome in twin pregnancies. Support will be provided by the results of twin pregnancies by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Demokrition University of Thrace (Alexandroupolis, Greece) in the last fifteen years. METHODS: From the above Department, data were collected on the number of twin pregnancies, maternal age, gestational age, mode of delivery (spontaneous delivery or caesarean section), birth weight and rate of twin pregnancies with assisted reproduction. RESULTS: The results showed the increasing trend of twin pregnancies and births. A total of 304 twin pregnancies were identified (rate 2.75%). The rate of assisted reproduction was 34.83% in our sample, while the rate of cesarean deliveries was 95.5%, showing a large increase in recent years. In ten cases, normal delivery was successfully performed. The gestational age in twin pregnancies that ended with normal delivery was 37.37 + 3 weeks and the fetuses were both cephalic presentations. The main reason for admission of newborns to the NICU Department was prematurity. CONCLUSION: The constantly improving education of perinatalists and understanding of the pathophysiology may lead to individualization of their treatment, and improvement of their prognosis based on recent scientific data from other international centers.