Role of parental age and consanguinity in the etiology of numerical chromosome anomalies

ABSTRACT

To investigate the role of parental age and consanguinity on nondisjunction, 257 patients with numerical chromosome anomalies [NCA] were studied. For comparison, 514 phenotypically normal newborns were selected. The mean maternal age was significantly higher in the group with NCA than in the control group. The mean paternal age was significantly higher in the group with NCA than in the control group. The frequency of consanguineous marriages among parents of patients with NCA was also significantly higher than among parents of the control group. Thus, advanced maternal age and consanguinity were found to play an important role in the etiology of nondisjunction while the effect of advanced paternal age is probably of a minor value