Maternal and neonatal outcomes according to gestational weight gain in twin pregnancies: Are the Institute of Medicine guidelines associated with better outcomes?

OBJECTIVE: The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended a gestational weight gain for full-term twin pregnancies of 17-25 kg for normal Body mass Index patients', and characterize its guidelines on during twin pregnancies as "provisional". Indeed, they are exclusively based on observational epidemiological data. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the IOM's gestational weight gain guidelines are optimal for maternal and neonatal. OUTCOMES STUDY DESIGN: We included all consecutive twin pregnancies delivering two live births retrospectively. Monoamniotic pregnancies, major congenital abnormalities, twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, patients with missing gestational weight gain data in the last month before delivery, and patients with a body mass index (BMI) ≤18.5 were excluded. To control for gestational length, we divided the total weight gain by the gestational age in weeks at the last weight measurement to obtain the weight gain per week. Patients were classified as having low gestational weight gain, adequate gestational weight gain, or excessive gestational weight gain, with the results adjusted for BMI and tobacco use. RESULTS: There were 878 patients in our level-III university hospital maternity ward who met the inclusion criteria in 1997-2013. Excessive gestational weight gain women had greater rates of preeclampsia than adequate gestational weight gain women did. Low gestational weight gain women showed a lower rate of gestational hypertension than AGWG women did. Delivery before 37 weeks of gestation (26.9% vs. 17.3%, p = 0.009), birth weight <2500 g, respiratory distress syndrome, and transfer to the neonatal intensive care unit were more frequent in the LGWG group compared with the AGWG group. Apgar score <7 at 5 min were more frequent in the EGWG group. CONCLUSION: Adequate gestational weight gain was associated with better outcomes. Our results suggest that the IOM guidelines for twin pregnancy are appropriate and therefore should be routinely used.

Impact of customized growth curves on screening for small for gestational age twins.

OBJECTIVE: The choice of a growth curve determines the screening for small-for-gestational-age (SGA) fetuses and little data is available on SGA twins. Our aim was to evaluate small-for-gestational-age (SGA) detection rate in twin pregnancies and assess whether the use of a customized curve allowed better identification of SGA fetuses. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study including all twins between 2010 and 2013. Two groups were formed: the SGA and the non-SGA group. Four curves were compared: Hadlock's curve, a customized curve, EPOPé M0 and EPOPé M1. We defined a composite neonatal complication criterion (transfer to intensive care unit, respiratory distress and death). RESULT: 472 fetuses were included with a 34.3% prevalence of SGA. Hadlock's curve showed better sensitivity for the detection of SGA <10th percentile (67.3% vs. 63%, 59.9% and 57.4% respectively). Diagnostic Odd Ratio were comparable for the detection of SGA. For the composite variable, there was a significant difference between the 2 groups using a customized curve adjusted for fetal sex (EPOPé M1). CONCLUSION: The EPOPé (M0 and M1) and customized curves do not improve screening for SGA infants below the 10th percentile. The reduced effectiveness of customized curves can be related to the greater impact of placentation or cord insertion on the potential for fetal growth.

Obstetrical and perinatal complications of twin pregnancies: is there a link with the type of infertility treatment?

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to compare the maternal and perinatal data from spontaneous twin pregnancies with twin pregnancies conceived via assisted reproductive technology, and to evaluate the outcomes depending on the type of treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A historical cohort of all twin live births between 1997 and 2014 was used to create two groups: spontaneous pregnancies and pregnancies after infertility treatment (ovulation induction, intrauterine insemination, in vitro fertilization, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection). The population characteristics and pregnancy, childbirth, and neonatal complications were compared, and the data were adjusted for age, parity, chorionicity, and the mother's body mass index to assess only the impact of the infertility treatments. RESULTS: In total, 1580 twin pregnancies were included, with 575 requiring assisted conception. We did not observe any differences between the assisted conception pregnancies and the spontaneous twin pregnancies with regard to the obstetric and childbirth complications and neonatal outcomes. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences between the types of infertility treatment. CONCLUSION: After adjusting for the maternal parameters and chorionicity, the twin pregnancies conceived via assisted reproductive technology were not at an increased risk of obstetric and neonatal complications. Moreover, the type of treatment did not alter the obstetric and neonatal complications. Therefore, the higher complication rate was related to the patient's medical specifics, rather than to the infertility treatment.