Frequency of trisomy 21 in Germany before and after the Chernobyl accident

For Berlin (West) the rate of trisomy 21 among newborn and all prenatally diagnosed cases can be almost completely recorded, including the maternal age distribution. During the 9-year-period from 1980 and 1988 the average number of trisomy 21 per month was about 2, following a Poisson distribution. A significant increase (P less than 0.01) was observed in January 1987, exactly 9 months after the Chernobyl accident. In a supraregional study based on greater than 30,000 prenatal diagnoses performed in 1986, no significant effect could be observed. However, the highest rates of trisomy 21 were observed in the more heavily contaminated, southern part of Germany. The majority of these fetuses were conceived during the period of greatest radioactive exposure. The data are discussed with respect to the effect of low-dose radiation around the time of conception on the induction of non-disjunction in man.