engleski

Adverse environmental factors in the etiology of free form Down syndrome

This paper explores the significance of environmental risk factors in the occurrence of regular form Down syndrome (DS) among the children of mothers under 35 at the time of conception. 100 mothers of children with cytogenetically documented trisomy 21 (DS group) were compared to 100 age-matched mothers of cytogenetically normal children with minor acute illnesses (controls). Respective mean ages were 25.3 (range 17-34) and 24.9 (18-33). The data were accrued by personal interviews using a structured questionnaire, with the following main points of interest: genital disorders (in situ cervical carcinoma, genital herpes, non-specific genital inflammation) ; systemic diseases (acute febrility states, viral infections, toxoplasma and mycoplasma infections, thyroid dysfunction, diabetes) ; medicaments use ; smoking, drug and alcohol abuse ; radiation and chemicals exposure ; profession ; contraception practice ; coital frequency ; psychological stress. Fathers" age, profession, health status, smoking habits, and exposure to radiation, drugs or chemicals were also recorded. In spite of some conspicuous differences between the DS and control mothers (higher incidence of nonspecific genital inflammation, more medication at the time of conception, more smokers, more potential professional exposure to chemicals), the group differences were not fully statistically significant (c^2-test). Since the exposure of young women (under 35) to known environmental risk factors is not reliably associated with the occurrence of DS in the offspring, a convenient and financially acceptable prenatal screening system would be desirable.

Down's syndrome; environmental risk factors; mother age; birth rate seasonality

U radu se istražuje značenje nepovoljnih okolišnih činitelja kao rizika za začeće djece s regularnim oblikom Downovog sindroma (DS) u majki koje su u doba začeća bile mlađe od 35 godina. Uspoređeno je 100 majki čija su djeca imala citogenetički dokazanu trisomiju 21 sa 100 majki podjednake dobi čija su djeca bila citogenetički normalna (kontrolna skupina). Prosječna dob u tim dvjema skupinama bila je 25, 3 godina (raspon od 17 do 34) odnosno 24, 9 godina (raspon od 18 do 33).Podaci su prikupljeni strukturiranim upitnikom u izravnom razgovoru s ispitanicama. Ispitani su ovi činitelji: genitalni poremećaji (cervikalni karcinom in situ, genitalni herpes, nespecifične upale spolnih organa) ; sistemske bolesti (akutna febrilna stanja, virusne infekcije, toksoplazmoza, infekcije mikoplazmama, bolesti štitnjače, dijabetes) ; uporaba lijekova ; pušenje i uživanje alkohola ili droga ; izlaganje zračenju i kemikalijama ; utjecaj profesije, stresa, oblika kontracepcije i spolnih odnosa (učestalost koitusa). Također se obratila pozornost dobi oca i mogućem utjecaju štetnih činitelja na nj (profesiji, zdravstvenom stanju, navici pušenja, izloženosti zračenju, lije