A 22-year-old primigravida gives birth to a boy at 38 weeks' gestation. On physical examination, the infant appears normal except for an abnormal right hip click with the Ortolani maneuver. Ligamentous laxity of the hip is noted. The mother asks if there is any risk that future children will be born with a similar malformation. What is the most likely recurrence risk for future pregnancies?
This is developmental dysplasia of the hip. Most congenital malformations, particularly malformations that are isolated defects, have no readily identifiable cause. Most defects are believed to be caused by the inheritance of a certain number of genes and by the interaction of those genes with environmental factors. Their transmission follows the rules for multifactorial inheritance. The recurrence rate is believed to be 2% to 7% and is the same for all first-degree relatives, regardless of sex and relationship to the index case. Some populations may have more carriers of these genes.
<1%
5%
25%
50%
Disease of Infancy & Childhood