An adjustable fetal weight standard for twins: a statistical modeling study

BACKGROUND: It is a common practice to use a singleton fetal growth standard to assess twin growth. We aim to create a twin fetal weight standard which is also adjustable for race/ethnicity and other factors. METHODS: Over half a million twin births of low risk pregnancies in the US, from 1995 to 2004, were used to construct a fetal weight standard. We used the Hadlock’s fetal growth standard and the proportionality principle to make the standard adjustable for other factors such as race/ethnicity. We validated the standard in different race/ethnicities in the US and against previously published curves from around the world. RESULTS: The adjustable fetal weight standard has an excellent match with the observed birthweight data in non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanics, and Asian from 24 to 38 weeks gestation. It also had a very good fit with cross-sectional data from Australia and Norway, and a longitudinal standard from Brazil. However, our model-based 10th and 90th percentiles differed substantially from studies in Japan and US that used the last menstrual period for estimate of gestational age. CONCLUSION: The adjustable fetal weight standard for twins is a flexible tool and can be used in different populations. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0401-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.