Article Text
Abstract
Reports indicate lower Down syndrome (DS) survival among females than among males in Australia, contrasting with female longevity in the general population. Using data on 1310 people with DS (626 females and 684 males) in Japan from five hospitals’ medical records and questionnaires completed by parents of people with DS, we investigated sex differences in congenital heart disease (CHD), which may be related to mortality. The CHD rate was significantly higher for females (354, 57%) than for males (338, 49%; p=0.010). Significantly more females (199, 32%) than males (175, 26%) underwent surgery for CHD (p=0.018).
- Down syndrome
- congenital heart disease
- sex difference
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Footnotes
Contributors TT designed the study, participated in the interpretation of the results and drafted the initial manuscript. MA participated in data collection and interpretation of the results. HT participated in data analysis and interpretation of the results. RI, YN, HO, MK and NH participated in data collection. All authors approved the final manuscript for submission.
Funding This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI, grant number 23500893, Japan.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement statement Not required.
Patient consent for publication Not Required
Ethics approval The study has received ethical approval from Tokyo Kasei University Ethics Committee, Kyorin University Ethics Committee, Teikyo University Ethics Committee, University of Tokyo Ethics Committee and National Center for Child Health and Development Ethics Committee.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.