Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T00:54:17.692Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Non-Decline in U.S. Twin Birth Rates, 1964–1983

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Gordon Allen
Gordon Allen*
Affiliation:
U.S. Public Health Service (Retired), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
*
9326 W. Parkhill Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Detailed twin birth rates for the United States are unavailable since 1964. In 1983 the crude twinning rate for women of white race was higher than in 1964, but there had been great changes in maternal age and parity. Indirect standardization for maternal age and birth order provides estimated total twinning rates that can be compared over the entire period. The adjusted rates for whites show a nearly continuous increase except after a 2-year reporting hiatus, 1969-70, when rates dropped back 10%. In blacks the adjusted rate increased between 1966 and 1978, except for the 1968-71 shift. The distributions of rate increases by maternal age and by race argue against effects of medical ovulation stimulants, but a disproportionate increase of triplets argues for such effects. Study is needed of rates specific for maternal age and parity, rather than of total rates.

Keywords

Twinning ratesMaternal ageParityRaceOvulation stimulants
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 313 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1987

References

REFERENCES

1.Allen, G, Firschein, IL (1957): The mathematical relations among plural births. Am J Hum Genet 9:181–190.Google ScholarPubMed
2.Bracken, MB (1979): Oral contraception and twinning: An epidemiologic study. Am J Obstet Gynecol 133:432–434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Elwood, JM (1983): The end of the drop in twinning rates? Lancet i:470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Eriksson, AW, Eskola, MR, Fellman, JO (1976): Retrospective studies on the twinning rate in Scandinavia. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 25:29–35.Google Scholar
5.Guttmacher, AF (1953): The incidence of multiple births in man and some other unipara. Obstet Gynaecol 2:22–25.Google Scholar
6.Hémon, D, Berger, C, Lazar, P (1981): Some observations concerning the decline of dizygotic twinning rate in France between 1901 and 1968. In Gedda, L, Parisi, P, Nance, WE (eds): Twin Research 3: Part A, Twin Biology and Multiple Pregnancy. New York: Alan R Liss, pp 49–56.Google Scholar
7.Heuser, RL 1967: Multiple Births, United States - 1964. Washington: US Government Printing Office (Public Health Service Publication No. 1000, Series 21, No. 14).Google Scholar
8.James, WH (1975): The secular decline in dizygotic twinning rates in Italy. Acta Genet Med Gemell 24:9–14.Google Scholar
9.Jeanneret, O, MacMahonB (1962): Secular changes in rates of multiple births in the United States. Am J Hum Genet 14:410–425.Google ScholarPubMed
10.McArthur, N (1954): Changes in twin frequencies. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 3:16–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.National Center for Health Statistics (1941–1981): Vital Statistics of the United States. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
12.National Center for Health Statistics, Division of Vital Statistics, Natality Statistics Branch. Unpublished data.Google Scholar
13.Olsen, J, Rachootin, P (1983): The end of the decline in twinning rates? Scand J Soc Med 11:119.Google ScholarPubMed
14.Parisi, P, Caperna, G (1982): Twinning rates, fertility, and industrialization: a secular study. Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Human Genetics, Jerusalem, 1981. New York: Alan R Liss, pp 375–394.Google Scholar
15.Scheinfeld, A, Schachter, J (1963): Bio-social effects on twinning incidence. (I): Intergroup and generation difference in the United States in twinning incidences and ratios. Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Human Genetics. Rome: Istituto “Gregorio Mendel”, pp. 300–302.Google Scholar
16.Scheinfeld, A (1963): Bio-social effects on twinning incidence. (II): The world situation with respect to twinning incidences and ratios, and observations regarding genetic influences. Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Human Genetics. Rome: Istituto “Gregorio Mendel”, pp 303–305.Google Scholar
17.Webster, F, Elwood, JM (1985): A study of the influence of ovulation stimulants and orai contraception on twin births in England. Acta Genet Med Gemell 34:105–108.Google Scholar
18.Wyshak, G (1978): Statistical flndings on the effects of fertility drugs on plural births. In Nance, WE (ed): Twin Research. Part B: Biology and Epidemiology. New York: Alan R Liss, pp 17–33.Google Scholar