ATTITUDES TOWARDS DOWNS-SYNDROME - FOLLOW-UP OF A COHORT OF 280 CASES

A follow up study of a cohort of 280 Down's syndrome (DS) fetuses was initiated in order to estimate the percentage of terminations of pregn ancy, the prevalence at birth, the survival of DS children, the attitu de of the parents at birth, and the medical and surgical care provided . The present study is a preliminary analysis of the data collected up to the age of 1 year. It shows that 43% of the 280 DS fetuses had die d by the end of the first year of life, owing to termination of pregna ncy (27%), late spontaneous abortion or stillbirth (4%), or death duri ng the first year of life (12%). Among the 33 children who died, 12 ha d a common atrioventricular canal, six had another major malformation, three died fi om infection, one from respiratory distress, two were c ot deaths, and one was an infanticide, but eight deaths were unexplain ed, occurring in children with no known malformation or disease. Among the 185 children still alive after 2 days, 23 (12%) were available fo r adoption, their mothers having elected to remain anonymous. These re sults show that in some instances parents or professionals feel justif ied on one hand in not providing DS children with the necessary care a nd on the other hand to transfer their responsibilities to the public health system. The influence of prenatal diagnosis of chromosome disor ders as a determining factor of the social acceptance of DS is still q uestionable.