Maternal Thyroid Function and Birth Weight in Twins

Context Thyroid hormones are associated with birth weight in singleton pregnancy. Twin pregnancies need more thyroid hormones to maintain the normal growth and development of the fetuses compared with single pregnancy. Objective We aimed to investigate the association of thyroid hormones and birth weight in twins. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study in a Chinese population. Pregnant women who received regular antenatal health care and delivered live-born twins from 2014 to 2019 were included (n = 1626). Linear mixed model with restricted cubic splines and logistic regression models were used to estimate the association of thyroid hormones with birth weight and birth weight discordance in twins. Results We observed that both thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) were not associated with birth weight in twins overall, while when stratifying on fetal sex or chorionicity, there were nonlinear association between FT4 levels and birth weight in boys (P-nonlinear < .001) and in dichorionic (DC) twins (P-nonlinear = 0.03). Women with levels of FT4 lower than the 10th percentile had a higher risk of birth weight discordance in their offspring than women with normal FT4 levels (range, 2.5 to 97.5 percentiles) (odds ratio = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.05-2.33). Conclusion Our study suggests there was an association of FT4, but not TSH, with birth weight and birth weight discordance varied by sex and chorionicity. These findings could have implications for obstetricians to be aware of the importance of FT4 levels in preventing birth weight discordance in twin pregnancy.

Automated summary

This study found an association between FT4 and birth weight as well as birth weight discordance in twins, while TSH was not associated with birth weight. These findings have implications for obstetricians in preventing birth weight discordance in twin pregnancies.