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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
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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

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