about Edward's syndrome
Edward's syndrome is named after John Hilton Edwards who first described the syndrome in 1960. During meiosis, Trisomy 18 almost always happens due to nondisjunction. Nondisjunction is the inability of homologous chromosomes to seperate correctly during cell division. A gene mutation occurs because it affects the large segment a.k.a chromosome 18 that has the multiple genes and it adds an extra cgromosome. Edward's syndrome is the second most common autosomal trisomy following Down syndrome. About 1 in 6000 cases aren't diagnosed until live birth and in about 1 out of every 2500 pregnancies Trisomy 18 is detected before birth. 50% of babies that are delivered are stillborn. Males have a higher stillborn rate than girls. Although less than 10% live past their first birthday, many children with Trisomy 18 will enjoy many years of their lives! A small number of adults (usually female) have lived to their twenties and thirties, but experience significant development delays that prevent them from living independent lives and require assisted living.