RESUMO
Cytogenetic data obtained from investigating 1001 patients of Down syndrome (DS) and their parents over a period of 20 years (January 1979-January 1999) are presented. The frequency of pure trisomy, mosaicism and translocation was 87.92, 7.69 and 4.39 per cent respectively. The origin of the extra chromosome 21 due to meiotic non-disjunction was 79.24 per cent maternal and 20.76 per cent paternal. A high frequency of acrocentric chromosome associations was also observed in mothers of children of Down syndrome, this might have predisposed to an enhanced risk for non-disjunction. Birth order of DS showed a higher number of first and second borns. Reproductive performances of the parents indicated a high rate of abortions, compared to controls. Cytogenetic investigations carried out over these years greatly helped in the management of these children and for counseling the affected families.