Clinical study of 459 polydactyly cases in China, 2010 to 2014

Polydactyly is one of the most common hereditary limb malformations, involving additional digits on the hands and/or feet, which is a very attractive model to appreciate clinical and genetic heterogeneity. A high level of heterogeneity in polydactyly has been identified in different regions. However, such data of the medical literatures for Asian populations are relatively limited. This study was intended to shed light on the phenotypic manifestations of polydactyly in the recruited Chinese population and to characterize the medical literature on this condition. A total of 459 well-characterized polydactyly cases from Shanghai Children's Medical Center were recruited. Their phenotypes, inheritance patterns, and clinical heterogeneity were obtained from clinical medical records. It was found that 4.8% of cases were familial and 95.2% were sporadic. The proportions of preaxial and postaxial polydactyly types were 74.7% and 25.3%, respectively. In preaxial polydactyly, type I formed the overwhelming majority (95.9%). Among the postaxial polydactyly cases, type A was most prevalent at 69.8% and type B was witnessed in 30.2% of cases. Familial and sporadic polydactyly patients mainly had unilateral presentations. A total of 583 limbs with additional digits were recorded in the 459 subjects. Upper limb involvement was more common than lower, and right hand involvement was more common than left for preaxial polydactyly, and lower limb involvement was more common than upper in postaxial polydactyly. This cohort added useful clinical/epidemiological information to the polydactyly literature in the Chinese population and highlighted its marked clinical heterogeneity.