Importance of hereditary disease at a Neuropsychiatric Institute in Mexico City.

The objective of this study is to investigate the type, importance, and incidence of hereditary diseases in patients at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico City. A review of 6,258 files indicated that hereditary diseases represent an important problem for the Institute. Of the diseases with the highest incidences, hereditary factors have an important role in seven (epilepsy, depression, facial palsy, schizophrenia, mental retardation, migraine, and Parkinson's disease). Diseases of known monogenic etiology represent 1.5% of all the cases.