Infertility, Infertility Treatment and Twinning: the Danish National Birth Cohort

Overview

Journal Hum Reprod

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Reproductive Medicine

Date 2007 Jan 6

PMID 17204529

Citations 6

Authors

Jin Liang Zhu

Olga Basso

Carsten Obel

Kaare Christensen

Jorn Olsen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: We have previously observed that an increasing time to pregnancy (TTP) is associated with a reduced frequency of twin deliveries in couples not receiving infertility treatment. By using updated information, we assessed the frequencies of dizygotic (DZ) and monozygotic (MZ) twin deliveries as a function of infertility (TTP > 12 months), as well as infertility treatment.

Methods: From the Danish National Birth Cohort (1997-2003), we identified 51 730 fertile couples with TTP <or= 12 months, 5838 infertile couples who conceived naturally with TTP > 12 months and 5163 infertile couples who conceived after treatment. Information on zygosity, available for part of the cohort (1997-2000), was based on standardized questions on the similarities between the twins at the age of 3-5 years.

Results: Compared with fertile couples, the frequency of DZ twin deliveries was lower for infertile couples conceiving naturally (odds ratio 0.4, 95% confidence interval 0.2-0.7) and was much higher for infertile couples conceiving after treatment (17.3, 14.4-20.7). The frequency of DZ twin deliveries decreased with TTP in untreated couples, whereas the frequency of MZ twin deliveries remained constant.

Conclusions: The frequency of DZ twin deliveries decreased with TTP and substantially increased with infertility treatment, whereas MZ twin deliveries remained substantially unchanged.

Citing Articles

Monochorionic quadramniotic and triamniotic pregnancies following single embryo transfers: two case reports and a review of the literature.

Saravelos S, Zhang T, Chung J, Sun L, Sun Y, Li T J Assist Reprod Genet. 2015; 33(1):27-32.

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Fathering of dizygotic twins and risk of prostate cancer: nationwide, population-based case-control study.

Wiren S, Drevin L, Akre O, Robinson D, Stattin P PLoS One. 2014; 9(10):e110506.

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Epidemiologic methods for investigating male fecundity.

Olsen J, Ramlau-Hansen C Asian J Androl. 2013; 16(1):17-22.

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Why is lifetime fertility higher in twinning women?.

Rickard I, Courtiol A, Lummaa V Proc Biol Sci. 2012; 279(1738):2510-1.

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Effects of age on meiosis in budding yeast.

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