Objective: This study of twin deliveries aimed to examine the effect of fetal sex and fetal sex of the co-twin on fetal anthropometry and length of gestation.
Methods: Pregnancies were grouped as male/male, male/female, and female/female. Birth weight, head circumference, body length and delivery time of newborns were compared between unlike-sex and like-sex twin pregnancies.
Results: A total of 1028 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Of these pregnancies, 32.6% (n = 335) were male/male, 33.4% (n = 343) were male/female, and 34.0% (n = 350) were female/female. The discordant (male/female) newborns had a higher total birth weight than concordant twins (P = 0.015). Compared with male newborns from male/female twin pregnancies, male newborns from male/male pregnancies were found to be 129 grams heavier, 0.7 cm longer, and had a 0.4 cm larger head circumference (P<0.001, P=0.023, and P = 0.039, respectively). Pregnancies with male/female fetuses had statistically significantly longer gestations than pregnancies with male/male and female/female fetuses (P = 0.003 and P = 0.004, respectively). The shortest mean gestation was observed in the male/male group. Male/male pregnancies had a 1.53 times higher risk of preterm delivery than male/female pregnancies and a 1.51 times higher risk than female/female pregnancies (OR 1.53; 95% CI 1.07-2.19 and OR 1.51; 95% CI 1.06-2.16, respectively).
Conclusions: This study suggests that, in twin pregnancies, birth weight, head circumference, and body length are affected by the sex of the co-twin. Male sex is associated with shorter gestation and male/male twin pregnancies are at higher risk for preterm labour.
Keywords: anthropometry; gestational age; pregnancy outcome; sex; twins.
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