Birth weight centiles by gestational age for twins born in south India

Abstract

BackgroundBirth weight centile curves are commonly used as a screening tool and to assess the position of a newborn on a given reference distribution. Birth weight of twins are known to be less than those of comparable singletons and twin-specific birth weight centile curves are recommended for use. In this study, we aim to construct gestational age specific birth weight centile curves for twins born in south India.MethodsThe study was conducted at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, south India. The birth records of all consecutive pregnancies resulting in twin births between 1991 and 2005 were reviewed. Only live twin births between 24 and 42 weeks of gestation were included. Birth weight centiles for gestational age were obtained using the methodology of generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS). Centiles curves were obtained separately for monochorionic and dichorionic twins.ResultsOf 1530 twin pregnancies delivered during the study period (1991–2005), 1304 were included in the analysis. The median gestational age at birth was 36 weeks (1st quartile 34, 3rd quartile 38 weeks). Smoothed percentile curves for birth weight by gestational age increased progressively till 38 weeks and levels off thereafter. Compared with dichorionic twins, monochorionic twins had lower birth weight for gestational age from after 27 weeks.ConclusionsWe provide centile values of birth weight at 24 to 42 completed weeks of gestation for twins born in south India. These charts could be used both in routine clinical assessments and epidemiological studies.

Male external genitalia growth curves and charts for children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 years in Chongqing, China

“…It has been used by the Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS) of World Health Organization (WHO) group in constructing growth reference curves for school-age children and adolescents. 2 GAMLSS is also widely used to develop various growth references for such characteristics as lung function, 3 birth weight, 4 grip strength, 5 and blood pressure. 6 However, it has not been used to develop growth curves for assessing male external genitalia.…”

Development of Fetal Growth Charts in Twins Stratified by Chorionicity and Mode of Conception: a Retrospective Cohort Study in China

“…For a long time, although there are the continuous efforts, trying to establish fetal growth curve for twins, but the issue has not been resolved. The existing data has inherent limitations, for example, some of the data came from birth weight and cannot be applied to the growth and development assessment during pregnancy 24,[35][36][37][38] , some others recruited subjects by small sample size 5,11,15 or without exclusion of high-risk pregnancy 5,12,16 . In the present study, we got over the limitations and largely promised our growth reference chart customized for chorionicity and mode of conception a more reliable tool to distinguish cases with fetal growth restriction in twins 39 .…”

Twin chorionicity‐specific population birth‐weight charts adjusted for estimated fetal weight

“…Finally, we also compared our estimated 50 th birthweight percentile values to other twin birthweight studies that compiled reference ranges split by chorionicity 15,18 . When compared to the Ananth et al 18 study, the largest difference between birthweight in DCDA twins occurred at 35 weeks' gestation.…”

“…The differences discussed above, could be as a result of population variance. However, it should be noted that both the data presented by these studies 15,18 are based on observed birthweight measurements.…”

“…There have been several birthweight reference charts generated for twins, charting the birthweight alongside the gestational age (GA) [13][14][15][16][17][18] . These studies opted to analyse actual observed birthweight.…”