Thyroid disease and other maternal factors in mongolism.

One hundred women, who at the age of 35 years or more had had a child with mongolism, were investigated to discover any relation between thyroid disease and autoimmunity and mongolism and to search for other possible etiological factors. They were compared with 100 matched controls. The mothers of mongoloid children had a higher incidence of thyroid disease, either hypo- or hyperactivity (11 compared with three in the control group). The proportion with thyroglobulin antibodies was the same (18.8%) in both groups and mean serum protein-bound iodine levels were similar. There was no difference in reproductive history, diseases other than of the thyroid, frequency of previous pelvic and abdominal x-rays or incidence of infectious hepatitis during the year prior to conception.