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- Title
The changing purpose of Prader-Willi syndrome clinical diagnostic criteria and proposed revised criteria.
- Authors
Gunay-Aygun, M; Schwartz, S; Heeger, S; O'Riordan, M A; Cassidy, S B
- Abstract
Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a complex, multisystem disorder. Its major clinical features include neonatal hypotonia, developmental delay, short stature, behavioral abnormalities, childhood-onset obesity, hypothalamic hypogonadism, and characteristic appearance. The genetic basis of PWS is also complex. It is caused by absence of expression of the paternally active genes in the PWS critical region on 15q11-q13. In approximately 70% of cases this is the result of deletion of this region from the paternal chromosome 15. In approximately 28%, it is attributable to maternal uniparental disomy (UPD; inheritance of 2 copies of a chromosome from the mother and no copies from the father, as opposed to the normal 1 copy from each parent) of chromosome 15, and in <2%, it is the result of a mutation, deletion, or other defect in the imprinting center. Clinical diagnostic criteria were established by consensus in 1993. Subsequently, definitive molecular genetic testing became available for laboratory diagnosis of PWS. However, identification of appropriate patients for testing remains a challenge for most practitioners because many features of the disorder are nonspecific and others can be subtle or evolve over time. For example, hypotonic infants who are still in the failure to thrive phase of the disorder often do not have sufficient features for recognition of PWS and often are not tested. Initial screening with these diagnostic criteria can increase the yield of molecular testing for older children and adults with nonspecific obesity and mental retardation. Therefore, the purpose of clinical diagnostic criteria has shifted from assisting in making the definitive diagnosis to raising diagnostic suspicion, thereby prompting testing. We conducted a retrospective review of patients with PWS confirmed with genetic testing to assess the validity and sensitivity of clinical diagnostic criteria published before the widespread availability of testing for all affected patients and recommend revised clinical criteria.
- Publication
Pediatrics, 2001, Vol 108, Issue 5, pE92
- ISSN
1098-4275
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1542/peds.108.5.e92