Downs Syndrome is caused by a random mutation. It's not inherited so the long term rate of it occuring would be unaffected. Given the massive amount of inbreeding in Iceland they have bigger concerns.
Like any genetic disorder, Down syndrome is actually inheritable. 50% of the children of a Down syndrome parent (typically a mother, as men with Down syndrome are typically infertile) will also have Down syndrome, assuming no special technology is used. What is true is that the 50% of children who do not have Down syndrome will likely also not have any higher chance than the general population of having children of their own with Down syndrome.
> It's not inherited so the long term rate of it occuring would be unaffected.
What? The rate of it occurring is about the number of people alive with the syndrome, not those conceived. They abort all of them, so there are less of them. It's not about inheritance.
tsimionescu|3 years ago
fshr|3 years ago
What? The rate of it occurring is about the number of people alive with the syndrome, not those conceived. They abort all of them, so there are less of them. It's not about inheritance.
at_a_remove|3 years ago
That extra chromosome doesn't just go *poof* during meiosis. For the translocation type of the syndrome, it can and does happen occasionally.