Human Reproduction, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 755-758, 1993
© 1993 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
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Chromosome heteromorphisms and early recurrent abortions
Medical Genetics Section, Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ 00161 Rome, Italy 2Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, University of L'Aquila 00161 Rome, Italy 3First Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ 00161 Rome, Italy 4Second Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ 00161 Rome, Italy
Correspondence: 1To whom correspondence should be addressed
In order to identify the role played by heterochromatic polymorphisms in miscarriage, an analysis was carried out on 257 couples, 137 of them with two or more abortions and 120 serving as a control. All couples were taken from two Italian populations: 77 cases and 70 controls came from an exogamic population whilst 60 cases and 50 controls came from an almost endogamic one. Out of the 137 cases, six couples in the exogamic and five in the endogamic groups were excluded because at least one partner had balanced chromosomal aberrations. Four controls from the exogamic group were also excluded for the same reason. The remaining 126 cases were analysed to detect the presence of chromosomal heteromorphism in one or both partners. The results suggested that chromosomal heteromorphism does not induce miscarriage. In fact, only one heteromorphism, inv(9)(p11q12), seems to be marginally related to recurrent abortion and only in the exogamic population. In addition no differences were found in the distribution of chromosomal heteromorphism in the couples analysed in relation to the number of abortions, i.e. two or more than two.
Key words: chromosome heteromorphism/miscarriage/spontaneous abortion