The impact of congenital malformations and Mendelian diseases on infant mortality in Israel.
BACKGROUND
Infant mortality in Israel is twofold higher among non-Jews than Jews.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the impact of congenital malformations and Mendelian diseases on infant mortality.


METHODS
We compared the causes of infant mortality in a 4 year period among Jewish and non-Jewish Israeli citizens. Classification was done by analyzing all the death reports according to whether or not the child had any known major malformation, Mendelian disease and/or a syndrome, irrespective of the immediate cause of death.


RESULTS
The infant mortality among non-Jews was double that among Jews (9 versus 4.4 per 1,000 live births). The rate of children with malformations/genetic syndromes was 3.1 times higher among non-Jews than among Jews (2.94 vs. 1.25 per 1,000 live births). The most significant difference was in the rate of Mendelian diseases, which were 8.3 times more frequent in non-Jewish children (0.16 vs. 1.33 per 1,000 live births respectively). A Mendelian disease was diagnosed in almost 15% of the non-Jewish infants and in less than 5% of the Jewish infants.


CONCLUSIONS
The most striking difference between the Jewish and non-Jewish infants was the incidence of congenital malformations and Mendelian diseases parallel to the differences in the consanguinity rates between the two populations.
Zlotogora
Joël
J
Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, Tel Hashomer, Israel. joelz@cc.huji.ac.il
Leventhal
Alex
A
Amitai
Yona
Y
D000032:Abortion, Therapeutic; D018912:Arabs / Q000235:genetics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001723:Birth Rate / Q000639:trends; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality*; D003241:Consanguinity; D003644:Death Certificates; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000453:epidemiology; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends; D007514:Islam; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews / Q000235:genetics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors