Patients with sex chromatin abnormality in two state hospitals

Abstract

Summary The incidence of sex‐chromatin subnormality in two special hospitals for subnormal patients requiring special security on account of violent and aggressive behaviour was found to be significantly higher than the incidence in other institutionalized populations of the mentally subnormal. It is suggested that two factors account for this raised incidence: the higher mean intelligence level in the special hospital population, and the high proportion of sex‐chromatin‐positive males in these hospitals with an additional Y chromosome. We thank Dr J. N. McDougall, Medical Superintendent of Moss Side Hospital, for permission to study the patients in his care and the Medical and Nursing Staffs of Rampton and Moss Side Hospitals for their full co‐operation. This investigation was supported in part by a grant from the National Spastics Society.