What are the risks of a twin pregnancy?
• A too early deliveryThis is the most common problem of a twin pregnancy. About half of twins are born before 37 weeks. When born after 32 weeks, babies may still have feeding and breathing problems, but they will nearly always survive. In contrast, babies born between 24 and 32 weeks have a high risk of dying or handicap if they survive. The median gestational age of delivery is only marginally earlier in monochorionic (36 weeks) compared with dichorionic twins (37 weeks). However, the proportion of pregnancies delivering very early (before 32 weeks) is nearly twice as high in monochorionic (9%) compared with dichororionic twins (5.5%). • Poor growth of the babiesIn twins, the risk of delivering growth-restricted babies is about 10 times higher than in singletons. The chance of both babies growing poorly is about 4 times as high in monochorionic (7.5%) compared with dichorionic (2%) pregnancies. It may also happen that that one baby is much smaller than the other. This problem seems
