Causes of an extremely high local twinning rate

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Abstract
The Romanian village Eftimie Murgu, until recently quite endogamous, shows a remarkably high total twinning frequency of 20% from 1927-1977. Some other demographic properties are unusual too: the secular development of twinning is not so much characterized by a steady frequency decline as by a sharp and temporary depression after World War II. The distribution of twins on maternal age and parity is not only characterized by an increase with age/parity but there is also a peak in the lowest ages/parities. The well-known higher fertility of twins'' mothers is confirmed. In order to check the possible genetic determination of the high twin frequency, pedigrees of 6-8 generations were reconstructed for every twin; moreover, twin frequencies of other isolated Romanian villages were examined for comparison. Genetics may be an important cause of twin births.

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