In a new study published in the journal Neurology, researchers in Japan have found that the prevalence of Down syndrome has increased to 9% in children.
“There are now approximately 5,000 children in the country who have Down syndrome, and it’s still unknown whether this increase is caused by increased diagnoses or by better diagnostics and treatments,” said study co-author Dr. Yuji Takahashi.
“However, there is no doubt that there has been a rise in the prevalence.”
According to the study, the most common disorder in children with Down syndrome is aphasia, with an additional 22% having another disorder, including schizophrenia, autism, or other developmental disorders.
This finding means that the number of children with severe conditions like cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, epilepsy, and multiple myeloma is growing, too.
The study found that more than half of the children with developmental disorders in the study had a diagnosis of Down Syndrome, and nearly half of them were diagnosed with a diagnosis with Down Syndrome.
Down syndrome was not previously linked to autism or learning disabilities.
However, in Japan, Down syndrome diagnoses are on the rise, and this is leading to an increase in the number and severity of serious neurological conditions.
Dr. Takahash says that the increase in diagnoses and treatments for Down syndrome may lead to a better understanding of the disorder.
“We hope that our work will be helpful in understanding how and why the increased prevalence of the condition is occurring in Japan,” he said.
“It’s a very complex condition and we have yet to understand its underlying causes.”
Dr. Yamada is not the first person to speculate on the causes of Down’s syndrome.
In 2014, a paper published in Nature Genetics reported that Down syndrome appeared to be a consequence of genetic predisposition to autism.
This was not the case, however, and research has now found that Down Syndrome is not a genetic condition.
“The most likely explanation is that the genetic changes we see in Down syndrome result from the same genetic factors that cause autism, so we should expect that if we have a child with Down, we should see increased autism and autism-like behaviors,” said Dr. Tadashi.
The results of the new study are particularly interesting given the recent news of an increasing number of cases of Down, particularly in Japan.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, there are currently over 7,500 children with congenital Down syndrome in Japan and the country has a prevalence of about 5.5%.
As of 2015, Japan had more than 8,000 cases of the developmental disorder.
A new study conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Research and Technology (MOT) has found that there are approximately 4,500 people in the world who have congenital or acquired Down syndrome.
However a new survey of Japanese children with autism has also found that this figure is only 0.1%.
“It is surprising that more children with ASD are affected by Down syndrome than those with ASD,” said Takahira.
“While our results suggest that the current diagnosis of ASD may be underestimated in Japan due to the high rate of Down diagnosis in Japan compared to other countries, we cannot rule out that Down is more prevalent in Japan than in other countries.”
The study also found increased incidence of Down in women as well.
According the researchers, Down was not present in women before birth.
The researchers say this finding may be due to different mechanisms involved in the development of Down and in the epigenetics of Down.
“Our findings are important for future research into Down’s development, and the epigenetic factors involved,” said Professor Koji Nagata, one of the study’s authors.
“Although it is not yet clear what causes Down’s autism, our data indicate that epigenetic changes in the brain are more important than genetic factors for the development and development of ASD.”