Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T07:18:44.946Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Second survey Of secular trends in twinning rates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

William H. James
William H. James
Affiliation:
MRC Mammalian Development Unit, University College, London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A study has been made of twinning rates throughout the world over the last two decades. There has been a decline in age-specific dizygotic twinning rates in almost all of the developed countries during this period. Exceptions to this trend are provided by the United States, where the only decline in twinning rates in the last two decades was in births to older women in the 1960s, and by Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria, where an initial decline in twinning during the 1960s was followed by stable twinning rates.

It is suggested that the cause may be some form of environmental pollutant, perhaps a pesticide, which has been the subject of restrictive legislation first in the United States and later in the three Communist countries. Possibly the cause of this decline may be identified by a study of such legislation.

This seems to be the first study of twinning rates in Central and South America. The low twinning rates in some of the countries there may indicate the genetic affiliations of their inhabitants with those (of Mongoloid origin) of countries in the Far East.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , October 1982 , pp. 481 - 497
Copyright
Copyright © 1982, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alberman, E. (1977) Sociobiologic factors and birth weight in Great Britain. In: The Epidemiology of Prematurity. Edited by Reed, D.M. and Stanley, F.J.Urban and Schwarzenberg, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Bracken, M.B. (1979a) Oral contraception and twinning: an epidemiologic study. Am. J. Obstet. Gynec. 133, 432.Google Scholar
Bracken, M.B. (1979b) Reply to Dr James. Am. J. Obstet. Gynec. 135, 700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradford, G.E. (1972) Genetic control of litter size in sheep. J. Reprod. Fert. Suppl. 15, 23.Google Scholar
Bulmer, M.G. (1970) The Biology of Twinning in Man. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Czeizel, A. & Acsadi, G. (1971) Demographic characteristics of multiple births in Hungary. Acta Genet, med. Gemell. 20, 301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
David, G., Jouannet, P., Martin-Boyce, A., Spira, A. & Schwartz, D. (1979) Sperm counts in fertile and infertile men. Fert. Steril. 31, 453.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dougherty, R.C., Whitaker, M.J., Tang, S.Y., Bottcher, R. & Keller, M. (1980) Sperm density and toxic substances: a potential key to environmental health hazards. In: The Chemistry of Environmental Agents as Human Health Hazards. Edited by McKinney, J.D.Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Michigan.Google Scholar
Eriksson, A.W. & Fellman, J. (1973) Differences in the twinning trends between Finns and Swedes. Am. J. hum. Genet. 25, 141.Google Scholar
Glass, R.I., Lyness, R.N., Mengle, D.C., Powell, K.E. & Kahn, E. (1979) Sperm count depression in pesticide applicators exposed to DBCP. Am. J. Epidemiol. 109, 346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goswami, H.K. & Wagh, K.V. (1975) Twinning in India. Acta Genet. med. Gemell. 24, 347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harlap, S. (1979) Multiple births in former oral contraceptive users. Br. J. Obstet. Gynaec. 86, 557.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Imaizumi, Y. & Inouye, E. (1979) Analysis of multiple birth rates in Japan. I. Secular trend, maternal age effect and geographical variation in twinning rates. Acta Genet. med. Gemell. 28, 107.Google ScholarPubMed
James, W.H. (1972) Secular changes in dizygotic twinning rates. J. biosoc. Sci. 4,427.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, W.H. (1978a) The decline in dizygotic twinning rates in Australia. Ann. hum. Biol. 5, 493.Google Scholar
James, W.H. (1978b) A hypothesis on the declining dizygotic twinning rates in developed countries. Progr. clin. biol. Res. 24 B, 81.Google ScholarPubMed
James, W.H. (1980a) Time of fertilization and sex of infants. Lancet, i, 1124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, W.H. (1980b) Gonadotrophs and the human secondary sex ratio. Br. Med. J. 281, 711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, W.H. (1980c) Secular trend in reported sperm counts. Andrologia, 12, 381.Google Scholar
James, W.H. (1981) Dizygotic twinning, marital stage and status, and coital rates. Ann. hum. Biol. 8, 371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, W.H. (1982) Possible consequences of the hypothesised decline in sperm counts. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Human Fertility Factors (With Emphasis on the Male). Cargese, Corsica, 09, 1981 (in press).Google Scholar
Jonckheere, A.R. (1954) A test of significance for the relation between m rankings and k ranked categories. Br. J. statist. Psychol. 7, 93.Google Scholar
Lazar, P. (1976) Effets des avortements spontanés sur la fréquence des naissances gémellaires. C. r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci. Paris, 282, 243.Google Scholar
Lazar, P., Hemon, D. & Berger, C. (1978) Twinning rate and reproduction failures. Progr. clin. biol. Res. 24 B, 125.Google Scholar
MacLeod, J. & Wang, Y. (1979) Male fertility potential in terms of semen quality: a review of the past, a study of the present. Fert. Steril. 31, 103.Google Scholar
Mann, T. & Lutwak-Mann, C. (1981) Male Reproductive Function and Semen, p. 346. Springer, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milham, S. (1964) Pituitary gonadotrophin and dizygotic twinning. Lancet, ii, 566.Google Scholar
Moore, R.W. & Whyman, D. (1980) Fertilizing ability of semen from rams of high- and low-prolificacy flocks. J. Reprod. Fert. 59, 311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, C.M.K. & Bunge, R.G. (1974) Semen analysis: evidence for changing parameters of male fertility potential. Fert. Steril. 25, 503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parisi, P. & Caperna, G. (1981) The changing incidence of twinning: one century of Italian statistics. Progr. clin. biol. Res. 69 A, 35.Google Scholar
Piasecki, E. (1978) The frequency of twin births in Poland. (In Polish). Studia Demograficzne 54, 53.Google Scholar
Potashnik, G., Ben-Aderet, N., Israeli, R., Yanai-Inbar, I. & Sober, I. (1979) Suppressive effect of 1, 2-dibromo-3-chloropropane on human spermatogenesis. Fert. Steril. 30, 444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rehan, N.E., Sobrero, A.J. & Fertig, J.W. (1975) The semen of fertile men: a statistical analysis of 1300 men. Fert. Steril. 26, 492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rola-Janicki, A. (1974) Multiple births in Poland 1949–71. In: Multiple Pregnancy and Twin Care, p. 202. Edited by Parisi, P. Acta Genet, med. Gemell. 22, Supplement.Google Scholar
Rothman, K.J. (1977) Fetal loss, twinning and birthweight after oral contraception. New Engl. J. Med. 297, 468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Royal College of General Practitioners (1976) The outcome of pregnancy in former oral contraceptive users. Br. J. Obstet. Gynaec. 83, 608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandahl, B. (1974) A study of seasonal and secular trends in incidence of stillbirths and spontaneous abortions in Sweden. Acta obstet. gynec. scand. 53, 251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, M.L., Luqman, W.A. & Rakoff, J.S. (1979) Correlations between seminal radioimmun-oreactive prolactin, sperm count and sperm motility in prevasectomy and infertility clinic patients. Fert. Steril. 32, 312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SyrovÁtka, A., HavrÁnek, F. & VondrÁC˜ek, J. (1979) Changes in the incidence of twin births in Czechoslovakia. C˜slká Pediat. 34, 434.Google ScholarPubMed
Thompson, B. & Aitken-Swan, J. (1973) Pregnancy outcome and fertility control in Aberdeen. Br. J. prev. soc. Med. 27, 137.Google ScholarPubMed
Timberlake, L. (1981) Poland: the most polluted country in the world? New Scient. 92, 248.Google Scholar
Trussell, J. & Westoff, C.F. (1980) Contraceptive practice and trends in coital frequency. Fam. Plann. Perspect. 12, 246.Google Scholar
Vakil, D.V., Botkin, M.P. & Roehrkasse, A.P. (1968) Influence of hereditary and environmental factors on twinning in sheep. J. Hered. 59, 256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vessey, M., Doll, R., Peto, R., Johnson, B. & Wiggins, P. (1976) A long term follow up study of women using different methods of contraception. An interim report. J. biosoc. Sci. 8, 373.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westoff, C.F. (1974) Coital frequency and contraception. Fam. Plann. Perspect. 6, 136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whorton, D., Krauss, R.M., Marshall, S. & Milby, T.H. (1977) Infertility in male pesticide workers. Lancet, ii, 1259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilcox, A.J., Treloar, A.E. & Sandler, D.P. (1981) Spontaneous abortion over time: comparing occurrence in two cohorts of women a generation apart. Am. J. Epidemiol. 114, 548.Google Scholar
Zukerman, Z., Rodriguez-Rigau, L.J., Smith, K.D. & Steinberger, E. (1977) Frequency distributions of sperm counts in fertile and infertile males. Fert. Steril 28, 1310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed