Low twinning rate and seasonal effects on twinning in a fertile population, the Hutterites

This paper analyzes from the mid 18th century to 1987 the birth records of the "Dariusleut," one of the three subgroups of the Hutterite population. The aim of this study is to describe several aspects of the twinning rate in a fertile population. The overall rate of twinning was 0.90%: 103 twins among all 11,492 maternities. The rate peaked at the 7th birth order and at the maternal age of 40 years and over. Until the mid 19th century when the Hutterites lived in Russia, the twinning rate was higher (1.5%), and it decreased during the migration period in the second half of the 19th century (0.7%). After the group had settled in the USA and Canada, the population maintained a twinning rate of 1.0% until 1965. After 1965 the rate decreased to 0.7%, partly due to a decline in fertility among women aged 30 years and over. There was a significant seasonal variation: the twinning rate decreased to 0.5% in May-July compared to 1.2% for the other three seasons during the years up to 1965 (P < 0.01), while more recent mothers did not show such a seasonal variation. The incidence of twin births in this population seems to have been influenced by environmental factors, which would change their effect seasonally and secularly.