key: cord-1039803-hyv5p0v0
authors: Dard, Rodolphe; Janel, Nathalie; Vialard, François
title: COVID-19 and Down’s syndrome: are we heading for a disaster?
date: 2020-07-20
journal: Eur J Hum Genet
DOI: 10.1038/s41431-020-0696-7
sha: 7a4eda93ea1d4da48e451642ac0510a8c0dc7dca
doc_id: 1039803
cord_uid: hyv5p0v0

nan

community. Thus, the lethality of COVID-19 might lead to a dramatically high mortality rate-over 50%-among young adults and children with DS and comorbidities, and probably an even higher value among older adults with DS.

Given that people with DS are often intellectually impaired, measures designed to prevent transmission of the virus will certainly be more difficult to apply in this population. Furthermore, most adults with DS live in institutions where the risk of contagion is significant or with their elderly parents, who themselves constitute a high-risk group.

In these chaotic times, healthcare systems have to focus on essential care. Under these circumstances, medical genetics centres tend to be closed-leaving people with DS without specialist follow-up and specific guidance. In view of the above, we want to warn healthcare providers and families about the higher risk of severe COVID-19 among people with DS-including children.

We fear that tackling the broader COVID-19 crisis might make the health authorities lose sight of a potential disaster among people with DS. Accordingly, we insist on the importance of early containment, care provision, and easily understandable advice for especially vulnerable people with DS. More broadly, we must be attentive to the needs of people with mental and immune impairments, such as those caused by 22q11.2 deletion-the second most frequent cytogenetic disease.

Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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