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The Factors That Influence Twinning Rates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Percy P. S. Nylander
Percy P. S. Nylander*
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria
*
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

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In a study carried out in an African population in Western Nigeria and a Caucasian population in Aberdeen, Scotland, it was found that DZ twinning rates varied with maternal age and parity, the MZ twinning rate remaining fairly constant. However, women aged 30–34 were found to have the highest rate in Western Nigeria whereas the peak in Aberdeen population occurred in the older age group, 35–39 years. Other factors that influenced DZ twinning rates were maternal height, social class and ethnicity (in the Nigerian population), and illegitimacy (in the Aberdeen population). No significant association was found between twinning and maternal blood groups or season of the year in either of the two populations. An important factor that also influenced twinning in the two populations was the maternal serum FSH level. The levels were much higher in the Nigerian population than in the Aberdeen population. Furthermore, in the Aberdeen population, twin-prone and non-twin-prone women had similar serum FSH levels, whereas the levels were much higher in twin-prone women in the Nigerian population. This finding is consistent with the fact that the Nigerian population has a much higher twinning incidence (approximately 50 per 1,000 maternities) than Aberdeen population (approximately 12 per 1,000 maternities).

Keywords

Twinning rateMaternal ageParityMaternal heightSocial classIllegitimacySeasonalityMaternal blood groupsFSH levelTwin pronenessFecundability
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , July 1981 , pp. 189 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1981

References

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