Women with a Reduced Ovarian Complement May Have an Increased Risk for a Child with Down Syndrome

Advanced maternal age is the only well-established risk factor for trisomy 21 Down syndrome (DS), but the basis of the maternal-age effect is not known. In a population-based, case-control study of DS, women who reported surgical removal of all or part of an ovary or congenital absence of one ovary...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of human genetics 2000-05, Vol.66 (5), p.1680-1683
Main Authors: Freeman, Sallie B., Yang, Quanhe, Allran, Katherine, Taft, Lisa F., Sherman, Stephanie L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Chromosome aberrations
Down syndrome
Down Syndrome - etiology
Down Syndrome - genetics
Female
Follicle Stimulating Hormone - analysis
Humans
Maternal Age
Medical genetics
Medical sciences
Meiosis - genetics
Menstrual Cycle
Nondisjunction
Nondisjunction, Genetic
Odds Ratio
Oophorectomy
Ovariectomy
Ovary - abnormalities
Ovary - physiology
Ovary - surgery
Pregnancy, High-Risk
Prenatal Diagnosis
Risk Factors
Surveys and Questionnaires
Trisomy 21
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Summary:Advanced maternal age is the only well-established risk factor for trisomy 21 Down syndrome (DS), but the basis of the maternal-age effect is not known. In a population-based, case-control study of DS, women who reported surgical removal of all or part of an ovary or congenital absence of one ovary were significantly more likely to have delivered a child with DS than were women who did not report a reduced ovarian complement (odds ratio 9.61; 95% confidence interval 1.18–446.3). Because others have observed that women who have had an ovary removed exhibit elevated levels of FSH and similar hallmarks of advanced maternal age, our finding suggests that the physiological status of the ovary is key to the maternal-age effect. In addition, it suggests that women with a reduced ovarian complement should be offered prenatal diagnosis.
ISSN:0002-9297
1537-6605
DOI:10.1086/302907