Phenotype in patients with intellectual disability and pathological results in array CGH

Introduction: Global developmental delay (GDD) and intellectual disability (ID) are frequent reasons for consultation in paediatric neurology departments. Nowadays, array comparative genomic hybridisation (array-CGH) is one of the most widely used techniques for diagnosing these disorders. Our purpose was to determine the phenotypic features associated with pathological results in this genetic test.

Methods: We conducted a blind study of the epidemiological, clinical, anthropometric, and morphological features of 80 patients with unexplained ID to determine which features were associated with pathological results in array-CGH.

Results: Pathological results were found in 27.5% of the patients. Factors associated with pathological results in array-CGH were a family history of GDD/ID (OR = 12.1), congenital malformations (OR = 5.33), having more than 3 facial dysmorphic features (OR = 20.9), and hypotonia (OR = 3.25).

Conclusions: Our findings are consistent with those reported by other published series. We therefore conclude that the probability of having pathological results in array-CGH increases with the presence of any of the features mentioned above in patients with ID/GDD.