Altered incidence of meiotic errors and Down syndrome birth under extreme low socioeconomic exposure in the Sundarban area of India.

We conducted a survey to analyze the genetic epidemiology of trisomy 21 Down syndrome births in the Sundarban delta region of India. In this region, inhabitants are chiefly from marginalized poor tribal communities and have lived in extremely low socioeconomic condition for several generations. Microsatellite genotyping revealed an meiosis I/meiosis II ratio that is different from the previous reports on the Down syndrome populations from other parts of the world.