Falling perinatal mortality in twins in the UK: organisational success or chance?

M D Kilby1,2, J L Gibson3, Y Ville4,5

  • 1Fetal Medicine Centre, Birmingham Women's and Children's Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK.

In June 2018, Mothers and Babies Reducing Risks through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) published a Perinatal Surveillance report of an audit between 2013-2016. This noted that the stillbirth rate for twins nearly halved between 2014-2016; whereas the stillbirth rate for singletons remained static. There was a statistically significant reduction in the rate of stillbirth in twins over this period from 11.07 (95% CI, 9.78-12.47) to 6.16 (95% CI, 5.20-7.24) per 1000 total births. This commentary discusses these observations, the effects of twin chorionicity, and the potential obstetric and neonatal interventions, as well as public health improvements, that may have influenced these findings.

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