Comparison of the rates of preterm birth and low birth weight of vanishing twin and primary pregnancies conceived with assisted reproductive technology

Yongbing Guo; Yu Sun; Huixia Yang; Yang Xu; Qing Xue; Yanrong Kuai; Yan Gao; Fangfang Dai; Ying Guo

doi:10.1515/jpm-2020-0176

Article

Comparison of the rates of preterm birth and low birth weight of vanishing twin and primary pregnancies conceived with assisted reproductive technology

Yongbing Guo , Yu Sun , Huixia Yang , Yang Xu , Qing Xue , Yanrong Kuai , Yan Gao , Fangfang Dai and Ying Guo

Published/Copyright: August 17, 2020

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From the journal Journal of Perinatal Medicine Volume 49 Issue 1

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to compare the rate of preterm birth, low birth weight, and foetal growth restriction in assisted reproductive technology (ART) singleton pregnancies diagnosed with vanishing twin (VT) syndrome to those of ART pregnancies that were originally singleton pregnancies.

Methods

In this retrospective study, 177 pregnancies diagnosed with VT syndrome were matched and compared with 218 primary singleton pregnancies. The preterm birth and low birth weight rates of these two groups were evaluated. All pregnancies were conceived through ART and delivered at Peking University First Hospital and Hebei Xingtai Infertility Hospital from 2014 to 2016.

Results

The preterm delivery rate (20.90 vs. 8.72%, p<0.05) was significantly higher in the ART singletons with VT syndrome than in the control singleton group. The proportion of low-birth-weight (<2500 g) infants was also higher in the VT group than in the primary singleton group (10.73 vs. 3.67%, p<0.05). In addition, the preterm birth rate of the naturally conceived singletons was significantly lower than that of the ART singletons (6.00 vs. 14.18%, p<0.05).

Conclusions

ART singleton pregnancies with VT syndrome have higher rates of preterm birth and low-birth-weight new-borns than ART pregnancies that were originally singleton pregnancies.

Keywords: assisted reproductive technology; preterm birth rate; vanishing twin

Corresponding author: Yu Sun, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University First Hospital, No.1 Xi’anmen Street, Beijing, P.R. China, Phone: +86 (010)835 721 77, E-mail: sunyu2491@163.com

Funding source: First Hospital of Peking University

Award Identifier / Grant number: 4801014

Research funding: Youth Clinical Research Project of the First Hospital of Peking University (4801014).
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.
Ethical approval: The use of all data in this study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University First Hospital.

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Received: 2020-04-23

Accepted: 2020-07-27

Published Online: 2020-08-17

Published in Print: 2021-01-26

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2020-0176

Keywords for this article

assisted reproductive technology; preterm birth rate; vanishing twin