Facts About Down Syndrome
  • Down syndrome, or Trisomy 21, is a condition whereby there are three copies of the 21st chromosome instead of two.
  • Down syndrome is one of the leading causes of cognitive delay in the world - it is not related to race, nationality, religion or socio-economic status.
  • More than 400,000 people in the US and an estimated 3 million worldwide have Down syndrome.
  • Down syndrome probability increases with age in mothers; however, 80% of children who have Down syndrome are born to mothers under the age of 35.
  • Improvement in care over the last 15 years has led to a 20-point increase in IQ for people with Down syndrome.
  • In the 1980's the life expectancy of people with Down syndrome was 20 years old - today it is 55 and increasing.
  • It is extremely rare for a person with Down syndrome to develop a hard tumor cancer, to have a heart attack or to suffer a stroke.
  • Despite being the most frequently occurring chromosomal disorder (1 in 733 births), Down syndrome is the least funded genetic condition by the National Institutes of Health, receiving only 0.0006 of a $31 billion budget in 2009.