Reproductive Life Events of Twins with Opposite Sex

Introduction: It is hypothesized that androgens are transferred between fetuses across membranes, and have shown that female fetuses in female-male twin pairs have higher concentrations of serum testosterone than female fetuses in female-female pairs.  The question is whether or not this hormonal transfer has any impact on adult reproductive life events. Objective: The study objective was to test the hypothesis that females from female-female twins and females from female-male twins differ with respect to reproductive life events. Design and method:  We conducted a cross sectional study using volunteer female twins aged 15 and above from two settings of Malaysian and Iranian twin registries. Result: Female-female twins had a higher frequency of congenital abnormality and hirsutism than male-female twins. Other reproductive events were not found to be statistically significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: Our study was distinctive in comparing specific reproductive events among females from female-male twins compared with female-female twins.  Our results indicates that hormonal transition from male to female in a female-male gestation cannot be a valid explanation for reproductive ill health during adulthood.

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