An investigation of the relationship between obesity, twinning rates and perinatal outcomes in Grampian

Funding: CSO Project no. CZG/2/307

Investigators: Bell J, Campbell D, Tucker J, Bhattacharya S.

Summary

Maternal factors have a strong influence on natural twinning rates and there is some evidence to suggest that overweight women are more likely to deliver twins than women with lower BMI after adjusting for age and parity. As obesity is a growing public health concern it is timely to investigate another possible sequalae of this impending ‘epidemic’. Databases in Aberdeen provide an excellent opportunity to study the association by linking data on deliveries with data on assisted reproduction. An estimated total of 2000 twin pregnancies in the years 1976 to 2005 are anticipated in the resultant dataset. This permits the separation of natural twin deliveries from those that result from the medical management of infertility, and provides data on other maternal and environmental influences on the relationship. Trends in the total twinning rate and the natural twinning rate for Grampian will be examined and the independent association between obesity and other maternal factors with natural twinning will be explored.