| Abstract | Background:
Preeclampsia (PE) is a frequent disorder with a reported incidence of 2-8% among pregnancies. Twin pregnancies are twice as likely to be complicated by PE as single pregnancies. Aim: To assess the prevalence of PE in dizygotic as compared to monozygotic twin pregnancies. Study Design: Cross section study. Setting: Conducted at Obstetrics and Gynecology Department and Out Patients of General Hospital and Obstetrics and Pediatrics University Hospital at El-Minia City. Methods: Seventy (70) twin deliveries from first of February 2010 to end of April 2012 were reviewed. Placental pathology reports were reviewed to determine the chorionic state of each placenta. Monochorionic placentas were assumed to be monozygotic (MZ). Dichorionic placentas were categorized as dizygotic (DZ) if the neonates were of different sexes or different blood types. Maternal and fetal data were extracted from the medical records. This analysis was limited to women with pregnancies over 24 weeks of gestation where zygosity could be determined. Results: This analysis included 70 twin pregnancies, 30 MZ and 40 DZ. Among women, the rate of mild and severe PE was 55%, 45% for DZ twins versus 40%, 60% for MZ twins. Conclusions and recommendation: These results do not support that zygosity affects the rate of PE in twin gestations, though the number of subjects in this study was too small to allow definitive conclusions. Larger studies are needed to evaluate this finding.
Key words: preeclampsia, twins, zygosity.
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