THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BIRTH-WEIGHT DISCORDANCE IN TWINS

The author found, among 329 twin pairs, 50 (15.2%) cases of weight dis cordancy reaching or exceeding 22%. Among the 50 twin pairs, there wer e 65 boys and 35 girls, a sex ratio of 185.7. This degree of weight di scordancy appears to be unrelated to maternal age, parity and gestatio nal length. Growth retardation of one or both fetuses was significantl y more frequent (80%) among weight-discordant than among concordant on e (11.1%). There were more perinatal deaths between discordant than co ncordant twins. Among the twins who were born with evidence of growth discordancy, there was slightly increased incidence of abnormal presen tation, delivery by cesarean section, and low Apgar score as compared to the concordants.