Perinatal outcome of twin pregnancies in women of advanced age.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of twin pregnancies in women of advanced age (>or=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 = 240) to that of twin pregnancies in primiparae aged 25-29 years (N = 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.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. ilse.delbaere@ugent.be
Ilse
I
Delbaere
Hans
H
Verstraelen
Sylvie
S
Goetgeluk
Guy
G
Martens
Catherine
C
Derom
Dirk
D
De Bacquer
Guy
G
De Backer
Marleen
M
Temmerman
D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008423:Maternal Age; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple; D014427:Twins