Down's syndrome: chromosome analysis of 362 cases in Hungary

Abstract

A survey is given of the karyotypes observed in 362 children clinically diagnosed as cases of Down's syndrome from whom material was sent to 8 collaborating cytogenic laboratories in Hungary during the period 1965-1974. The sample studied cytogenetically constitutes about 20% of all children born in Hungary in this decade with Down's syndrome. The ways in which patients were selected for cytogenetic examinations could not be specified. In the sample, standard trisomy 21 was found in 91.7%, translocations in 3.9% and mosaicism in 4.4%. The mean age of the mothers of the children investigated was 29.05 years, a relatively low figure which may be explained by the decrease of the mean maternal age over the last decades.