Incidence of aneuploidy in a human population.

Abstract

A population of 40,371 individuals consisting of every baby delivered at two Denver hospitals from 1964 to 1974 has been screened from aneuploidy of the sex chromosomes and chromosome 21. The pattern in time with which aneuploidy occurs suggests an epidemic component of the incidence superimposed on an approximately equal constant frequency. The epidemic incidence is most likely to be high for births from May to October, to persist for several consecutive years, and then to be absent for several consecutive years.