[High prevalence of Down syndrome in the Rancagua Hospital in central Chile].
BACKGROUND
The Latin American Collaborative Study for Congenital Malformations (ECLAMC) has detected a higher incidence of Down syndrome in a zone of central Chile than in the rest of the country.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the incidence rates of Down syndrome between 1997 and 2003 at the Regional Hospital of Rancagua, located 90 km south of Santiago, Chile.


METHODS
The information obtained by ECLAMC was used. This program, using a case control methodology, registers all newborns with congenital malformations and assigns, as a control, the next normal newborn of the same sex.


RESULTS
During the study period, 106 newborns with Down syndrome were registered, with a mean rate of 29.61 per 10,000 live births, twice higher than expected. The rate variations along the years of study suggest a cyclic change, with a hemicycle of six years.


CONCLUSIONS
In this hospital, mothers under 35 years of age, have twice the risk of having a child with Down syndrome, than in the rest of the country.
Ojeda
María Elena
ME
Servicio de Salud Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, Hospital Regional de Rancagua, Rancagua. ojeda_maria_elena@hotmail.com
Moreno
Rodrigo
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies