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A Case-control Study of Vanishing Twin as a Risk Factor for Cerebral Palsy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Robert Newton ,
Delphine Casabonne ,
Ann Johnson  and
Peter Pharoah
Robert Newton*
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit, Gibson Building, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, UK. [email protected]
Delphine Casabonne
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit, Gibson Building, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, UK.
Ann Johnson
Affiliation:
Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Oxford, UK.
Peter Pharoah
Affiliation:
Dept. of Public Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr Robert Newton, Epidemiology Unit, Gibson Building, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, OX2 6HE, UK.

Abstract

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It has been hypothesized that cerebral palsy of unknown etiology is the result of the death of an unrecognized co-twin — a vanishing twin — in early gestation. We conducted a casecontrol study of vanishing twin as a risk factor for cerebral palsy of unknown etiology in women who had an obstetric ultrasound during pregnancy. Among mothers of cases, one of 86 had evidence of a vanishing twin on ultrasound, as compared to two of 381 control mothers (odds ratio [OR] 2.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.2–24.8; p = 0.5). Bleeding in early pregnancy, which may indicate the loss of a co-twin, was reported by 14 case mothers and 46 control mothers (OR 1.6, 95% CI 0.8–3.0; p = 0.3). On the basis of results presented here, the vanishing twin syndrome is unlikely to account for a high proportion of cases of cerebral palsy, but there is insufficient statistical power to draw firm conclusions.

Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , 01 April 2003 , pp. 83 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003