Clinical neurogenetics. A survey of the relationship of medical genetics to clinical neurology.

A retrospective survey was made of the prevalence of neurologic disorders with an established or possible genetic component in a university hospital patient population. More than half the patient visits to the Medical Genetics Clinic concerned diseases of the nervous system. More than 20 percent of pediatric neurology inpatients and at least 8.5 percent of adult neurology inpatients had disorders with a genetic factor. This study documents the common ground shared by medical genetics and clinical neurology.