The Reproductive Histories of Mothers of Patients Suffering from Congenital Diplegia

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Abstract
The reproductive histories of 278 mothers of diplegic patients in 2 series were examined. Mothers of diplegic patients were older when they married than were women in the general population of Scotland. More were over 30 days of age when they gave birth to diplegic children than expected. Mothers of diplegic children bad fewer conceptions than married child-bearing women in the population of Scotland and their pregnancies were more widely spaced. A high proportion of their pregnancies aborted or were otherwise abnormal. Many of their offspring were stillborn, died in infancy or showed neurological or other defects if they survived. Less than half the conceptions resulted in the birth of healthy offspring who survived the first year of life. There tended to be periods of relatively decreased fertility immediately before and after the birth of patients. Pregnancies contiguous to those resulting in the birth of diplegic children were more often abnormal than those which were more remote. The findings are thought to provide some evidence in support of the theory that underlying abnormalities of the reproductive process in mothers of diplegic children, may be responsible for both disorders of pregnancy, labour and delivery and for the production of abnormal offspring.