Twin Pregnancies Pose Elevated Risk of Post-Partum Cardiovascular Complications, suggests study

A new study revealed that twin pregnancies, even without hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular complications when compared to singleton pregnancies. The findings published in the European Heart Journal found heightened cardiovascular strain associated with carrying twins.

The research analyzed data from the Nationwide Readmissions Database of U.S. hospitals from 2010 to 2020. This study compared the rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related hospitalizations and mortality within a year after delivery among 4 groups as twin pregnancies with and without HDP, and singleton pregnancies with and without HDP. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to evaluate the risks, with singleton pregnancies without HDP serving as the reference group.

Of 36 million delivery hospitalizations analyzed, twin pregnancies were associated with significantly higher rates of CVD readmissions when compared to singleton pregnancies. Twin deliveries had a readmission rate of 1,105.4 per 100,000 delivery admissions, when compared to 734.1 per 100,000 for singletons.

The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) further highlighted that twin pregnancies with HDP had the highest risk, with an HR of 8.21 (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.48–9.01), which indicated over 8-times the risk compared to singletons without HDP. Singleton pregnancies with HDP followed closely with an HR of 5.89 (95% CI 5.70–6.08). Even twins without HDP showed a notable risk increase, with an HR of 1.95 (95% CI 1.75–2.17).