Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:03:44.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Secular Trend of Twinning in Australia, 1853–1982

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

J.D.H. Doherty  and
P.A.L. Lancaster
J.D.H. Doherty*
Affiliation:
Medical Service, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome
P.A.L. Lancaster
Affiliation:
National Perinatal Statistics Unit, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Sidney
*
Medical Service, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Viale Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The incidence of twinning in Australia from 1853 to 1982 is described. The overall trend was determined by changes in the dizygotic rate and, for more than a century, it has been similar to that found in Finland and the South of Italy. It is not explained by demographic changes and there is no clear relationship with industrialisation or psychosocial factors. Monozygotic twinning has increased, most markedly in the 1970s. No adequate explanation has been given for this increase, so continuing surveillance in many different populations is necessary.

Keywords

Twinning incidenceAustraliaSecular trendDemography
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 35 , Issue 1-2 , April 1986 , pp. 61 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1986

References

REFERENCES

1. Allen, G, Schachter, J (1970): Do conception delays explain some changes in twinning rates? Acta Genet Med Gemellol 19:30–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Allen, G, Schachter, J (1971): Ease of conception in mothers of twins. Soc Biol 18:18–27.Google Scholar
3. Arey, LB (1923): The cause of tubal pregnancy and tubal twinning. Am J Obstet Gynecol 5:163–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Armitage, P (1971): Statistical Methods in Medical Research. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
5. Brackenridge, CJ (1977): The secular variation of Australian twin births over fifty years. Ann Hum Biol 4:559–564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Bulmer, MG (1970): The Biology of Twinning in Man. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
7. Butler, NR, Alberman, ED (1969): Perinatal Problems - The Second Report of the 1958 British Perinatal Mortality Survey. Edinburgh: Livingstone.Google Scholar
8. Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics (1917): Census of the Commonwealth of Australia Taken for the Night between the 2nd and 3rd April, 1911. Volume 1. Statisticians Report Including Appendices. Melbourne: Government Printer.Google Scholar
9. Czeizel, A (1974): Unexplainable demographic phenomena of multiple births in Hungary. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 22:214–218.Google Scholar
10. Czeizel, A, Acsadi, G (1971): Demographic characteristics of multiple births in Hungary. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 20:301–313.Google Scholar
11. Dean, G, Keane, T (1972): An investigation of the high twinning rate in the Republic of Ireland. Br J Prev Soc Med 26:186–192.Google Scholar
12. Derom, R, Cameron, AH, Edwards, JH, Theiry, M (1983): Zygosity and genetic anomalies in twins. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 15:269–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Elwood, JM (1973): Changes in the twinning rate in Canada 1926-70. Br J Prev Soc Med 27: 236–241.Google Scholar
14. Elwood, JM (1983): The end of the drop in twinning rates? Lancet 1:470.Google Scholar
15. Eriksson, A (1962): Variations in the human twinning rate. Acta Genet Stat Med 12:242–250.Google Scholar
16. Eriksson, AW, Eskola, MR, Fellman, JO (1976): Retrospective studies on the twinning rate in Scandinavia. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 25:29–35.Google Scholar
17. Eriksson, AW, Fellman, J (1973): Difference in the twinning trends between Finns and Swedes. Am J Hum Genet 25:141–151.Google Scholar
18. Ferm, VH (1969): Conjoined Twinning in Mammalian teratology. Arch Environ Health 19: 353–357.Google Scholar
19. Fleiss, JL (1981): Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
20. Gittelsohn, AM, Milham, S (1965): Observations on twinning in New York State, Br J Prev Soc Med 19:8–17.Google Scholar
21. Guttmacher, AF (1953): The incidence of multiple births in man and some of the other unipara. Obstet Gynecol 2:22–35.Google Scholar
22. Hay, S, Wehrung, DA (1970): Congenital malformations in twins. Am J Hum Gen 22:662–678.Google Scholar
23. Imaizumi, Y, Asaka, A, Inouye, E (1980): Analysis of multiple birth rates in Japan II. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 29:223–231.Google Scholar
24. Imaizumi, Y. Inouye, E (1979): Analysis of multiple birth rates in Japan I. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 28:107–124.Google Scholar
25. Imaizumi, Y, Inouye, E (1984): Multiple birth rates in Japan: further analysis. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:107–114.Google Scholar
26. James, WH (1972): Secular changes in dizygotic twinning rates. J Biosocial Sci 4:427–434.Google Scholar
27. James, WH (1975): The secular decline in dizygotic twinning rates in Italy. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 24:9–14.Google Scholar
28. James, WH (1980): Secular changes in twinning rates in England and Wales. Ann Hum Biol 7: 485–487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29. James, WH (1982): Second survey of secular trends in twinning rates. J Biosocial Sci 14:481–497.Google Scholar
30. Jeanneret, O, MacMahon, B (1962): Secular changes in rates of multiple births in the United States. Am J Hum Genet 14:410–425.Google Scholar
31. Kaufman, MH, O'Shea, KS (1978): Induction of monozygotic twinning in the mouse. Nature 276:707–708.Google Scholar
32. Krueger, J, Propping, P (1976): Twinning frequencies in Baden-Wurttemberg according to maternal age and parity from 1955 to 1972. Acta GEnet Med Gemellol 25:36–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33. Layde, PM, Erickson, JD, Falek, A, McCarthy, BBJ (1980): Congenital malformation in twins. Am J Hum Genet 32:69–78.Google Scholar
34. McArthur, N (1954): Changes in twin frequencies. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 3:16–28.Google Scholar
35. MacGillivray, I (1970): The changing incidence of twinning in Scotland 1939 to 1968. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 19:26–29.Google Scholar
36. Myrianthopoulos, NC (1976): Congenital malformation in twins. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 25:331–335.Google Scholar
37. Nielsen, J, Homma, A, Isaksen, B, Bertelsen, A (1978): Incidence of twin births in Denmark from 1911 to 1974. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 27:45–49.Google Scholar
38. Nylander, PPS (1975): Factors which influence twinning rates. In MacGillivray, I, Nylander, PPS, Corney, G (eds): Human Multiple Reproduction. London: W.B. Saunders Company Ltd.Google Scholar
39. Parisi, P, Caperna, G (1981): The changing incidence of twinning: One century of Italian statistics. In Gedda, L, Parisi, P, Nance, WE (eds): Twin Research 3. Part A: Twin Biology and Multiple Pregnancy. New York: Alan R Liss, pp 35–48.Google Scholar
40. Parisi, P, Caperna, G (1982): Twinning rates fertility and industrialisation: A secular study. In: Human Genetics, Part A: The Unfolding Genome. New York: Alan R Liss, pp 375–394.Google Scholar
41. Philippe, P (1981): Twinning and changing pattern of breastfeeding: a possible relationship in a small rural population. Soc Biol 28:167–175.Google Scholar
42. Pollard, AH, Yusuf, F, Pollard, GN (1981): Demographic Techniques. Sydney: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
43. Pollard, GN (1969): Multiple births in Australia, 1944-63. J Biosoc Sci 1:389–404.Google Scholar
44. Rachootin, P (1983): The end of the decline in twinning rates? (letter). Scand J Soc Med 11:119.Google Scholar
45. Rachootin, P, Olsen, J (1980): Secular changes in the twinning rate in Denmark. Scand J Soc Med 8:89–94.Google Scholar
46. Richter, J, Miura, T, Nakamura, I, Nonaka, K (1984): Twinning rates and seasonal changes in Gorlitz, Germany, from 1611 to 1860. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:121–124.Google Scholar
47. Rola-Janicki, A (1974): Multiple births in Poland in 1949-1971. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 22:202–209.Google Scholar
48. Schinzel, AAGL, Smith, DW, Miller, JR (1979): Monozygotic twinning and structural defects. J Paediat 95:921–930.Google Scholar
49. Schmidt, HD, Rosing, FW, Schmidt, DE (1983): Causes of an extremely high local twinning rate. Ann Hum Biol 10:371–380.Google Scholar
50. Shipley, PWW, Wray, JA, Hechter, HH, Arellano, MG, Borhani, NO (1967): Frequency of twinning in California. Am J Epidemiol 85:147–156.Google Scholar
51. Siskind, U (1985): Ectopic pregnancy in Queensland. Med J Aust 142:673–674.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
52. Stockard, CR (1921): Development rate and structural expression. Am J Anat 28:115–277.Google Scholar
53. Waterhouse, JAH (1950): Twinning in twin pedigrees. Br J Soc Med 4:197–216.Google Scholar
54. Weinberg, W (1901): Beitrage zur Physiologie und Pathologie der Mehrlingsgeburten beim Menschen. Pfluegers Archiv Gesamte Physiol Menschen Tiere 88:346–430.Google Scholar
55. Windham, GC, Bjerkedal, T (1984): Malformations in twins and their siblings-Norway, 1967-1979. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:87–95.Google Scholar
56. Zahalkova, M (1974): Multiple births in Southern Moravia. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 22:210–213.Google Scholar