THE INCIDENCE OF BIRTHMARKS IN ISRAELI NEONATES

Background. Several studies have documented cutaneous findings in neon ates of various racial groups. Our purpose was to determine the freque ncy of birthmarks in Israeli neonates of Jewish and Arabic origin. Met hods. A cohort of 1672 newborn infants under 96 hours of age were exam ined for the presence of birthmarks. Of these 841 (50.3%) were Jewish and 831 (49.7%) were Arab. The Jewish group was further subdivided int o various ethnic groups according to parental ancestry. Results. Melan ocytic brown lesions (Mongolian spots, congenital nevi, and cafe-au-la it spots), were more common in Arab infants. The vast majority of Jewi sh infants with Mongolian spots were of Asian or African ancestry. On the other hand, congenital melanocytic nevi were found only in Jewish infants of European ancestry. Vascular lesions (salmon patch and port- wine stain) in Arab neonates exhibited a female preponderance. Conclus ions. Our data suggest that the prevalence of birthmarks in Israeli ne onates is similar to the prevalence reported by others in white neonat es.