CLINICAL, GENETIC AND EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY OF CONGENITAL CLUB FOOT

Among 16,100 infants born from 1973 to 1976 at Tokyo Medical and Dental University and its affiliated hospitals, there were 14 patients with congenital club foot, an incidence of 0.87 per 1,000 live births. A family study was made based on 185 patients with this deformity diagnosed in these hospitals from 1960 to 1976. The male to female ratio was 2:1. Bilateral and unilateral affected cases were observed in equal numbers. The proportion of the probands who had other malformation was 10.3%. A sharp fall in the incidence among the relatives was observed, paralleling the remoteness of the blood relation. This suggests that congenital club foot is compatible with the model of multifactorial inheritance. Heritability of the liability to the abnormality was estimated to be 72±18%. © 1979 The Japan Society of Human Genetics.