Statistics about Down Syndrome

Complication statistics for Down Syndrome:

The following are statistics from various sources about the complications of Down Syndrome:

• 40 to 50% of children with Down syndrome have congenital heart defects in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)
• Having Down syndrome increases the risk of leukaemia 15-20 times in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)
• 100% of people with Down syndrome will develop some physiologic signs of Alzheimer’s when they are over 35 years old in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)

Risk factor statistics for Down Syndrome:

The following are statistics from various sources about the risk factors for Down Syndrome:

• 80% of Down syndrome cases occur in mothers under 35 in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)
• The risk of having a Down syndrome child is 1 in 400 if the mother is 35-40 years old in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)
• The risk of having a Down syndrome child is 1 in 110 if the mother is over 40 in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)

Statistics for Down Syndrome:

The following are statistics from various sources about Down Syndrome:

• About 1-in-800 risk overall for all births
• Less than 1-in-1,000 for women under 30
• About 1-in-25 risk for a 45-year-old mother
• 88% of cases arise from mother's chromosome 21; 8% from father's chromosome 21; 2% from mitotic errors after fusion (NIDCD)
• Translocation Down Syndrome are about 4-5% of cases of Down syndrome
• 66-89% of Down patients have some level of hearing loss in at least one ear (NIDCD)
• The risk of pneumonia is 62 times higher than in non-Down (NIDCD)
• The risk of leukemia is 10-15 times higher than in non-Down people
• Seizures occur in about 3-13% of Down patients (NIDCD)

Prevalence and incidence statistics for Down Syndrome:

see also prevalence and incidence page for Down Syndrome

Incidence (annual) of Down Syndrome: 1-in-800 overall births

Incidence Rate: approx 1 in 800 or 0.12% or 340,000 people in USA [about data]

Incidence extrapolations for USA for Down Syndrome: 340,000 per year, 28,333 per month, 6,538 per week, 931 per day, 38 per hour, 0 per minute, 0 per second.

Incidence statistics about Down Syndrome:

The following statistics relate to the incidence of Down Syndrome:

• Incidence risk of Down syndrome increases with mother's age
• Less than 1-in-1,000 risk of Down syndrome for women under 30
• About 1-in-25 risk of Down syndrome for a 45-year-old mother
• 40 infants were born alive with Down Syndrome in the UK 2002 (University of Ulster, 2003)
• 4 fetal deaths or still births occurred due to Down Syndrome in the UK 2002 (University of Ulster, 2003)
• 26 cases of induced abortions occurred following prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome in the UK 2002 (University of Ulster, 2003)
• Down Syndrome occurred in 23.81 per 10,000 births in the UK 2002 (University of Ulster, 2003)
• Down syndrome occurs in 1 in 800 births in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)
• About 5,000 children are born with Down syndrome each year in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)

Survival rate statistics for Down Syndrome:

The following are statistics from various sources about the survival rate for Down Syndrome:

• People with Down syndrome typically live to about 55 years or longer in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)

Society statistics for Down Syndrome

Hospitalization statistics for Down Syndrome:

The following are statistics from various sources about hospitalizations and Down Syndrome:

• 0.008% (1,030) of hospital consultant episodes were for Down’s Syndrome in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 90% of hospital consultant episodes for Down’s Syndrome required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 64% of hospital consultant episodes for Down’s Syndrome were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 36% of hospital consultant episodes for Down’s Syndrome were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 14% of hospital consultant episodes for Down’s Syndrome required emergency hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 14.4 days was the mean length of stay in hospitals for Down’s Syndrome in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 3 days was the median length of stay in hospitals for Down’s Syndrome in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 12 was the mean age of patients hospitalised for Down’s Syndrome in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 25% of hospital consultant episodes for Down’s Syndrome occurred in 15-59 year olds in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 0% of hospital consultant episodes for Down’s Syndrome occurred in people over 75 in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 8% of hospital consultant episodes for Down’s Syndrome were single day episodes in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 0.015% (7,705) of hospital bed days were for Down’s Syndrome in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)

About statistics:

This page presents a variety of statistics about Down Syndrome. The term 'prevalence' of Down Syndrome usually refers to the estimated population of people who are managing Down Syndrome at any given time. The term 'incidence' of Down Syndrome refers to the annual diagnosis rate, or the number of new cases of Down Syndrome diagnosed each year. Hence, these two statistics types can differ: a short-lived disease like flu can have high annual incidence but low prevalence, but a life-long disease like diabetes has a low annual incidence but high prevalence. For more information see about prevalence and incidence statistics.