BACKGROUND: Infant mortality in Israel is twofold higher among non-Jews than Jews. OBJECTIVES: To determine the impact of congenital malformations and Mendelian diseases on infant mortality. METHODS: We compared the causes of infant mortality in a 4 year period among Jewish and non-Jewish Israeli citizens. Classification was done by analyzing all the death reports according to whether or not the child had any known major malformation, Mendelian disease and/or a syndrome, irrespective of the immediate cause of death. RESULTS: The infant mortality among non-Jews was double that among Jews (9 versus 4.4 per 1,000 live births). The rate of children with malformations/genetic syndromes was 3.1 times higher among non-Jews than among Jews (2.94 vs. 1.25 per 1,000 live births). The most significant difference was in the rate of Mendelian diseases, which were 8.3 times more frequent in non-Jewish children (0.16 vs. 1.33 per 1,000 live births respectively). A Mendelian disease was diagnosed in almost 15% of the non-Jewish infants and in less than 5% of the Jewish infants. CONCLUSIONS: The most striking difference between the Jewish and non-Jewish infants was the incidence of congenital malformations and Mendelian diseases parallel to the differences in the consanguinity rates between the two populations.
BACKGROUND:Infant mortality in Israel is twofold higher among non-Jews than Jews. OBJECTIVES: To determine the impact of congenital malformations and Mendelian diseases on infant mortality. METHODS: We compared the causes of infant mortality in a 4 year period among Jewish and non-Jewish Israeli citizens. Classification was done by analyzing all the death reports according to whether or not the child had any known major malformation, Mendelian disease and/or a syndrome, irrespective of the immediate cause of death. RESULTS: The infant mortality among non-Jews was double that among Jews (9 versus 4.4 per 1,000 live births). The rate of children with malformations/genetic syndromes was 3.1 times higher among non-Jews than among Jews (2.94 vs. 1.25 per 1,000 live births). The most significant difference was in the rate of Mendelian diseases, which were 8.3 times more frequent in non-Jewish children (0.16 vs. 1.33 per 1,000 live births respectively). A Mendelian disease was diagnosed in almost 15% of the non-Jewish infants and in less than 5% of the Jewish infants. CONCLUSIONS: The most striking difference between the Jewish and non-Jewish infants was the incidence of congenital malformations and Mendelian diseases parallel to the differences in the consanguinity rates between the two populations.
Authors: S Harlap; K Kleinhaus; M C Perrin; R Calderon-Margalit; O Paltiel; L Deutsch; O Manor; E Tiram; R Yanetz; Y Friedlander Journal: Hum Hered Date: 2008-05-20 Impact factor: 0.444