Birth size and gestational age in opposite-sex twins as compared to same-sex twins: An individual-based pooled analysis of 21 cohorts.
Journal: Scientific reports
Volume: 8
Issue: 1
Year of Publication: 2019
Affiliated Institutions:
Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. aline.jelenkovic@helsinki.fi.
Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Public Health Nursing, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan.
Department of Education, Mokpo National University, Jeonnam, South Korea.
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Institute for Molecular Medicine FIMM, Helsinki, Finland.
Obesity Research Unit, Research Programs Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Noncommunicable Diseases Prevention, Qingdao Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Qingdao, China.
Department of Health and Exercise Sciencies and Colorado School of Public Health, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA.
Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain.
Health Behaviour Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, UK.
Healthy Twin Association of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Bandim Health Project, INDEPTH Network, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau.
Department of Endocrinology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
Department of Infectious Diseases, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
Department of Radiology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
Department of Health Science, Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University, Kahoku, Ishikawa, Japan.
Istituto Superiore di Sanità - Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Rome, Italy.
School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
École de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
École de psychoéducation, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
The Australian Twin Registry, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, UK.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Hadassah Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
Centre of Human Genetics, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Basic Metabolic Research (Section of Metabolic Genetics), Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract summary
It is well established that boys are born heavier and longer than girls, but it remains unclear whether birth size in twins is affected by the sex of their co-twin. We conducted an individual-based pooled analysis of 21 twin cohorts in 15 countries derived from the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins), including 67,850 dizygotic twin individuals. Linear regression analyses showed that boys having a co-twin sister were, on average, 31 g (95% CI 18 to 45) heavier and 0.16 cm (95% CI 0.045 to 0.274) longer than those with a co-twin brother. In girls, birth size was not associated (5 g birth weight; 95% CI -8 to -18 and -0.089 cm birth length; 95% CI -0.202 to 0.025) with the sex of the co-twin. Gestational age was slightly shorter in boy-boy pairs than in boy-girl and girl-girl pairs. When birth size was standardized by gestational age, the magnitude of the associations was attenuated in boys, particularly for birth weight. In conclusion, boys with a co-twin sister are heavier and longer at birth than those with a co-twin brother. However, these differences are modest and partly explained by a longer gestation in the presence of a co-twin sister.
Authors & Co-authors:
Jelenkovic Aline A
Sund Reijo R
Yokoyama Yoshie Y
Hur Yoon-Mi YM
Ullemar Vilhelmina V
Almqvist Catarina C
Magnusson Patrik Ke PK
Willemsen Gonneke G
Bartels Meike M
Beijsterveldt Catharina Em van CEV
Bogl Leonie H LH
Pietiläinen Kirsi H KH
Vuoksimaa Eero E
Ji Fuling F
Ning Feng F
Pang Zengchang Z
Nelson Tracy L TL
Whitfield Keith E KE
Rebato Esther E
Llewellyn Clare H CH
Fisher Abigail A
Bayasgalan Gombojav G
Narandalai Danshiitsoodol D
Bjerregaard-Andersen Morten M
Beck-Nielsen Henning H
Sodemann Morten M
Tarnoki Adam D AD
Tarnoki David L DL
Ooki Syuichi S
Stazi Maria A MA
Fagnani Corrado C
Brescianini Sonia S
Dubois Lise L
Boivin Michel M
Brendgen Mara M
Dionne Ginette G
Vitaro Frank F
Cutler Tessa L TL
Hopper John L JL
Krueger Robert F RF
McGue Matt M
Pahlen Shandell S
Craig Jeffrey M JM
Saffery Richard R
Haworth Claire Ma CM
Plomin Robert R
Knafo-Noam Ariel A
Mankuta David D
Abramson Lior L
Burt S Alexandra SA
Klump Kelly L KL
Vlietinck Robert F RF
Derom Catherine A CA
Loos Ruth Jf RJ
Boomsma Dorret I DI
Sørensen Thorkild I A TIA
Kaprio Jaakko J
Silventoinen Karri K
Study Outcome
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