Physical minor anomalies in healthy and mentally retarded children

The prevalence of minor anomalies was researched on a sample of 109 mentally retarded children (MNR) with 65 boys and 44 girls, and for comparison purposes, a group of 246 healthy school children (123 boys and 123 girls) aged between 8 and 12 years. The number of minor anomalies found per child (W1) was compared and their weighting score according to Waldrop (W2) in both healthy and MNR children. A higher number of minor anomalies were found per child in the MNR children. In the MNR group those with four or more anomalies prevailed (56.9%) whilst in the healthy children only 7.7% had four or more anomalies. A high value weighting score (W2) of 5 or more was found in 36.7% of the MNR children, but in none of the subjects in the control group. The differences between the MNR and the healthy children in the average value of the number of minor anomalies per person (W1) and the average weighting score (W2) were significant. The average value of the number of minor anomalies per person (W1) for MNR children was 3.65 and 1.7 for healthy children. The results gained show that during the early development phase in MNR children common etiological factors were at work, which led to both physical and mental disturbances. The finding of a high number of multiple minor anomalies in MNR children shows the significant role of genetic factors in the etiology of the basic disturbances in the group of children analysed.