Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to compare the perinatal characteristics, neonatal morbidity and mortality of singletons, twins and triplets born before 34 weeks of gestation and admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit. METHODS: Singleton and multiple-birth infants born before 34 weeks of gestation and admitted to our unit between January 2012 and January 2013 were compared in terms of demographic features, birth and neonatal problems. The data was collected from medical records. Results: Five hundred and forty-four children were enrolled to the study. Among these, 435 (80%) there were singletons, 92 (17%) twins and 17 (3%) triplets. There was no difference between groups according to maternalage, chorio amnionitis, oligohydramniosis, and diabetes. While all triplet pregnancies had antenatal care, only 43.2% of twin pregnancies and 32.2% of singletons had antenatal care (p<0.0001). As expected, the antenatal steroid administration rate was higher in triplets (p<0.01). Although there was no difference between incidence of major morbidities, periods of parenteralnutrition and hospitalization were longer in singleton infants. Mortality was 21.2% in singletons, 21.3% in twins. All triplet infants were discharged without any complication. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: There was no adverses hortterm outcome in multiple-birth infants, comparing with singletons. More over, it was found that neonatal outcome was better in multiple-birth group who had higher antenatal care rate.

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