Down Syndrome: Risk factors, cause, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment.

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal abnormality in humans and the most common cause of intellectual disability. Normally a baby is born with 46 chromosomes. When Down syndrome occurs, a baby is born with an extra chromosome. A medical term for having an extra chromosome is “trisomy”. Down syndrome is also called “trisomy 21” since it occurs at the chromosome 21. This extra copy of chromosome has a negative impact on a newborn’s mental and physical growth. Along with mental and physical growth retardation, down syndrome patients can also present other diseases such as congenital heart diseases, Alzheimer's disease, and leukemia (one kind of blood cancer). Since this condition is life long, supportive care should be given to the patient. According to World Health Organization (WHO), the estimated incidence of down syndrome is 1 in 1000 births worldwide and 1 in 700 birth in USA. (CDC). Each year approximately 3000 to 5000 children are born with this chro...