Consequences of vanishing twins in IVF/ICSI pregnancies

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous reductions are a possible cause of the increased morbidity in IVF singletons. The aim of this study was to assess incidence rates of spontaneous reductions in IVF/ICSI twin pregnancies and to compare short- and long-term morbidity in survivors of a vanishing co-twin with singletons and born twins. METHODS: We identified 642 survivors of a vanishing co-twin, 5237 singletons from single gestations and 3678 twins from twin gestations. All children originated from pregnancies detected by transvaginal sonography in gestational week 8. By crosslinkage with the national registries the main endpoints were prematurity, birth weight, neurological sequelae and mortality. RESULTS: Of all IVF singletons born, 10.4% originated from a twin gestation in early pregnancy. Multiple logistic regression analyses adjusted for maternal age, parity and ICSI treatment showed for birth weight < 2500 g an odds ratio (OR) of 1.7 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-2.2] and for birth weight < 1500 g OR 2.1(95% CI 1.3-3.6) in singleton survivors of a vanishing twin versus singletons from single gestations; corresponding figures were seen for preterm birth. This increased risk was almost entirely due to reductions that occurred at > 8 weeks gestation. We found no excess risk of neurological sequelae in survivors of a vanishing co-twin versus the singleton cohort; however, OR of cerebral palsy was 1.9 (95% CI 0.7-5.2). Furthermore, we observed a correlation between onset of spontaneous reduction, i.e. the later in pregnancy the higher the risk of neurological sequelae (r = -0.09; P = 0.02). Adjusted OR of child death within the follow-up period was 3.6 (95% CI 1.7-7.6) in the survivor versus the singleton cohort. CONCLUSIONS: One in 10 IVF singletons originates from a twin gestation. Spontaneous reductions that occur at > 8 weeks gestation are one of the causes for the higher risk of adverse obstetric outcome in IVF singletons.