Early Childhood Weight Trajectory Differences in Twins, Singletons, and Gestational-age Matched Singletons

Overview

Journal Prev Med Rep

Date 2025 Feb 20

PMID 39974658

Authors

Anna Booman

Byron A Foster

Kristin Lyon-Scott

Miguel Marino

Jonathan M Snowden

Janne Boone-Heinonen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: Understanding of twin growth in the United States (US) is based on outdated or predominantly non-Hispanic White samples, and the age at which twins catch up to singletons is unclear. In this study, we characterized normative weight trajectories of twins and singletons in a contemporary, diverse cohort.

Methods: Data were from the PROMISE study, an electronic health record-based cohort of pregnant people and their children in the US (2005-2021). The Jenss model was used to characterize weight trajectories from 0 to 24 months of age. Twins ( = 716) were compared to the full cohort of singletons ( = 40,075) and a matched sample with similar gestational age at birth (GA) ( = 7160).

Results: Male and female twins had lower birth weight compared to singletons and experienced a high rate of weight gain throughout infancy. Among males, twins caught up in weight to the full singleton cohort and to GA-matched singletons at approximately 12 and 6 months, respectively. Among females, twins caught up to GA-matched singletons at approximately 15 months but did not fully overcome their birth weight disadvantage to the full singleton sample by 24 months.

Conclusions: These findings highlight that the use of singleton growth charts or preterm singleton growth charts among twins may be inappropriate and suggest the need for a twin-specific growth chart. Future research is needed to understand factors that drive differences in weight trajectories between twins and singletons and to guide twin-specific guidelines.

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