Population-based birth weight reference percentiles for Chinese twins.

Area of Science:

• Perinatal Medicine
• Neonatology
• Public Health

Background:

• Nation-specific birth weight references are vital for assessing newborn growth and predicting outcomes.
• China currently lacks population-based birth weight references specifically for twins.
• Existing references for twins vary globally, necessitating local data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish the first population-based birth weight percentiles for contemporary Chinese twins.
• To provide gestational age-specific curves for male and female twins.
• To compare these new references with existing singleton and non-Chinese twin data.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 54,786 live twin births (≥28 weeks gestation, no birth defects) from 2006-2015.
• Employed the LMS method to generate sex-specific, gestational age-adjusted birth weight percentiles.
• Analyzed neonatal mortality rates in relation to the newly developed reference cutoffs.

Main Results:

• Developed the first Chinese twin-specific birth weight percentiles and curves.
• Observed significant differences between Chinese twin data and existing references (Chinese singletons, non-Chinese twins).
• Identified substantially higher neonatal mortality rates for small-for-gestational-age twins using the new reference.

Conclusions:

• The new centiles serve as the primary norm for assessing Chinese twin growth in clinical and research settings.
• Twin-specific curves are essential for accurate classification of gestational age appropriateness in twins.
• Differences underscore ethnic influences and environmental factors, emphasizing the need for improved perinatal care for twins to reduce mortality.