Study Looks at Delivery Time and Risks for Second Twin

A group of Italian researchers explore whether not the inter-twin delivery interval affects the second twin during and after delivery. The inter-twin delivery interval is the time between the delivery of the first and second twin. Their results were published in the The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine in May 2018. 400 twin pregnancies between January 2000 and July 2017 were included. Only pregnancies where the mothers had given birth to the first twin vaginally were included. The mothers were divided into two groups depending on the inter-twin delivery interval. One group gave birth to their twins in under 30 minutes, the other group over 30 minutes.

Growth discrepancy significantly correlated to unfavorable outcome

The researchers compared the two groups and found that the outcomes were similar. Based on these findings, they concluded that inter-twin delivery time doesn’t influence the well-being of the mothers and twins. However, the study found that growth discrepancy between the twins was significantly correlated to an unfavorable outcome for the second twin. That was the case with a weight discrepancy greater than or equal to 25 percent.
Based on these finding, the researchers do not recommend a fixed time in which both twins should be delivered. That goes for both monochorionic and dichorionic twin pregnancies, as long as both babies are doing well during labor.