Salem SY, et al. – Here, analysts tested the hypothesis that the risk of neonatal morbidity among late–preterm twins are similar to that of late–preterm singletons. The outcome of this study suggests the risk of respiratory morbidity among late–preterm twins is similar to that of late–preterm singletons. Still, the low absolute rates of the composite respiratory morbidity in this population recommend that administration of antenatal corticosteroids could be mostly justified among neonates born closer to 34 weeks of gestation.

Methods

• For this research, they designed a retrospective cohort study.
• This study was conducted in a single tertiary center between 2008 and 2015.
• All women with twin or singleton pregnancy who gave birth amid the late–preterm period were enrolled in this study.
• In this study, neonatal outcomes of low–risk, late–preterm twins were compared with those of low–risk, late–preterm singletons.
• The primary outcome was the same primary composite respiratory morbidity variable that was utilized in the randomized controlled trial of Gyamfi–Bannerman et al on the administration of antenatal corticosteroids amid the late–preterm period.

Results

• In this study, a sum of 922 singleton and 721 twin late–preterm neonates met the inclusion criteria.
• The rates of composite respiratory morbidity and severe composite respiratory morbidity were similar for twins and singletons (8.3% compared with 7.4%, P=.5 and 6.8% compared with 6.0%, P=.5, respectively), but were lower than the rates of the same composite respiratory morbidity variable in the randomized controlled investigation depicted previously.
• The odds for respiratory morbidity were similar for twins and singletons for both composite respiratory morbidity (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.73, 95% CI 0.48–1.12) and severe composite respiratory morbidity (adjusted OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.50–1.24).