Twin pregnancy. The role of active management during pregnancy and delivery.

In a series of 335 twin patients delivered over 1965-1973, active management was promoted during the pregnancy and delivery. The twin diagnosis was made in the 33.7th gestational week on an average. The diagnosis was made prior to delivery in 83.0 % of the cases, and during 1971-1973 the diagnosis was made before the 32nd week of pregnancy in 40.2 % of the cases. The perinatal mortality (PNM) rates were highly significantly (p less than 0.001) lower, the birthweights of A and B higher (p less than 0.001), and the number of gestational weeks at delivery greater (p less than 0.001) in the group diagnosed during pregnancy than in the group in which the twins were not diagnosed until at delivery. 56.4 % of the patients stayed in hospital for more than 2 days during the pregnancy and 34.9 % for over 10 days. The average period of hospitalization was 11.3 days. The perinatal mortality (PNM) of both the A and the B infants was lowest in the group hospitalized for over 10 days. In the group which had stayed in hospital for over 10 days the mean birthweight of the A infants was higher by 100 g and that of the B infants by 94 g than in the group not hospitalized despite the early diagnosis of twins. The average duration of delivery was 9.3 hours. Active efforts were made to shorten the interval between the births of the two infants, and it was 17.5 minutes on an average. This interval was not, however, related to the PNM rate of the B twins. On the basis of our findings, we wish to emphasize particularly the importance of the early diagnosis of twins.