Chen, L., Wang, L., Wang, Y., Hu, H., Zhan, Y., Zeng, Z., & Liu, L. (2022). Global, Regional, and National Burden and Trends of Down Syndrome From 1990 to 2019. Frontiers in genetics, 13, 908482. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.908482

NIH: Global, Regional, and National Burden and Trends of Down Syndrome From 1990 to 2019

Research suggests that racial disparities exist when considering pregnancy terminations. The white portion of the population was more aware of the possibility to terminate their pregnancy and thus were more likely to do so after discovering that their child had down syndrome. This disparity between different cultures and countries is one of the reasons why we see differences in the prevalence of down syndrome across the world.

Racial disparities in pregnancy termination and down syndrome

Since pregnant women's average age increased during this time frame, the number of children born with Down Syndrome also increased since occurrence of down syndrome is more likely when the mother is older. However, with such increase in age, more elective pregnancy terminations occurred from 2006 to 2010.

Tulane University

The prevalence of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome is significantly higher in older women (over the age of 35) because as a woman ages, the probability that one of her eggs will contain an excess copy of the 21st chromosome increases greatly. Nearly ½ of babies with Down syndrome are born to women over the age of 35 every year in the United States. 

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