{"id":129,"date":"2019-03-12T04:37:48","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T04:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shreeanshfetalcare.com\/blog\/?p=129"},"modified":"2019-03-12T04:37:48","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T04:37:48","slug":"what-is-down-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shreeanshfetalcare.com\/blog\/what-is-down-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Down Syndrome?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder caused when abnormal cell division results in extra genetic material from chromosome 21. This genetic disorder, which varies in severity, causes lifelong intellectual disability and developmental delays, with characteristic facial features and in some people, it causes heart defects and other health problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Down syndrome is the most common genetic disorder and the cause of learning disabilities in children. Down syndrome occurs in about 1 in 800 newborns. Although women of any age can have a child with Down syndrome, the chance of having a child with this condition increases, as a woman gets older.<\/span><\/p>\n

Genetic basis of Down syndrome<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Human cells normally contain 23 pairs of chromosomes. One chromosome in each pair comes from your father, the other from your mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

Down syndrome results when abnormal cell division involving chromosome 21 occurs. These cell division abnormalities result in extra genetic material from chromosome 21, which is responsible for the occurrence of Down syndrome. This type of error accounts for 95% of cases of the Down syndrome. In rest of 5% cases, it may be due to translocation error where a part of chromosome 21 becomes attached (translocated) on to another chromosome. These children have the usual two copies of chromosome 21, but they also have additional material from chromosome 21 attached to the translocated chromosome.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Is it inherited?<\/span> \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Most of the time, it is sporadic, not inherited. It is caused by a mistake in cell division during the development of the egg, sperm or embryo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Translocation Down syndrome is the only form of the disorder that can be passed from parent to child. However, only about 4 percent of children with Down syndrome have a translocation. \u00a0And only about one-third of these children inherited it from one of their parents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Risk Factors<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Some parents have a greater risk of having a baby with Down syndrome. Risk factors include:<\/span><\/p>\n