Incidence and mortality of Down syndrome

Life expectancy for persons with Down syndrome has increased dramatically t hroughout the world over the last 50 years. In 1978 the Israel Ministry of Health initiated a national program for the prevention of birth defects, an d since 1979 data on the incidence and mortality of persons with Down syndr ome have been collected and analyzed. Data from this register are presented for the period 1979-97 and compared t o a previous study from Jerusalem for the period 1964-70. The actual incide nce rate in 1997 was 1.1 per 1,000, but the total or true incidence rate (b oth live births and terminated pregnancies), was 2.32, which was not much d ifferent from the 1964-70 rate of 2.43. With regard to mortality, in 1979 4 5.9% of the children born with Down syndrome died before the end of the fir st year; in 1966 only 8.6% died. In 1979 57.8% died before the age of 14, c ompared to only 10.5% in 1996.