Maternal Prenatal History And Consanguinity Among Families Of Children With Down Syndrome: A Retrospective Case Control Study

Abstract

Introduction: Down syndrome (DS) is one of the most common causes of intellectual disability. Many studies reported the relationship between antenatal history of spontaneous abortion and the risk of having DS children. Consanguineous marriage is common and preferrable in most of the Arabic countries, but its relation to DS remains controversial. Objective: Evaluating the association between antenatal maternal history, spontaneous abortions and consanguineous marriage in relation to the risk of giving DS live births. Subjects and Methods: This case control study included 306 patients diagnosed as DS, and their caregivers, presented to Clinical Genetics clinic, Cairo University Children Hospitals, from February 2018 to February 2020. The patients’ ages ranged from 1 to 5 years old and 306 families with healthy children as controls. They were evaluated by full history and examination. Results: Among DS children 67.6% were males, 22% of mothers of DS gave history of antenatal illness. History of previous spontaneous abortions was statistically significant higher among mothers with DS children with P- value