ABSTRACT

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal disorder and characterized by dysmorphic features, intellectual disability and frequent developmental abnormalities. Though the syndrome is a lifetime health issue for society, the awareness of our community on the syndrome is not sufficient.

This study is planned to define the level of awareness of our population on simple Down syndrome facts. A questionnaire consisting sociodemographic characteristics of the participants and Down syndrome facts was applied to 283 randomly selected participants.

The majority of the participants (89.8%) have heard of Down syndrome and 70% of the participants were aware that Down syndrome can be diagnosed during pregnancy. Even though less than half of them (42.4%) was clued in frequent association of congenital malformations with the syndrome, more participants (55.1%) knew that the advanced maternal age was a risk factor. There were statisticially significant differences between different sociodemographic groups on awareness of particular subjects.

Even though the certain demographics were well informed about the syndrome, there are still excessive amount of prejudice against Trisomy 21 patients; and therefore, more social projects are needed to raise the awareness.