Klinefelter Syndrome in infertile and prisoners men in Iraq: Cytogenetic and some aspects of psychological and social studies

Abstract

Klinefelter’s syndrome charactrised by the presence of one or more extra X chromosome in males and it is represent the most common chromosome aneuploid abnormality usually detected in men. Several types of research works have done on this syndrome in different countries worldwide to reveal many features of this syndrome including genetics, behavior, fertility, age, health problems and others. Almost all Klinefelter’s syndrome men are infertile, tall, depressed, autistic, violent, tending to make crime, disappointed, learning difficulty etc. In Iraq Klinefelter syndrome has not been studied scientifically therefore this study has been designed to put first steps to reveal some features of this syndrome in Iraq. Chromosomal analysis and questionnaire were performed on men who suffered from infertility and on prisoners. Chromosome studied was done by using G-banding technique on all cases to verify Klinefelter’s syndrome. The study included 823 male who showed infertility and 217 prisoners. The results showed that 15% (126 cases) of infertile men have Klinefelter’s syndrome, 77% (95 cases) out of them were (47, XXY), while 23% (29 cases) were mosaic for Klinefelter’s syndrome (46,XY/47,XXY). Moreover, 97% (122 cases) of Klinefelter’s bearing men were tall. Seven men (3%) of the prisoners showed Klinefelter syndrome, no mosaicism was detected. In the prisoners group, 27 persons were tall and all the seven prisoners with Klinefelter’s syndrome were among them to form 26% of them. Three of those seven prisoners were married but having no children. Three out of those seven were 20 years old and below. The prisoners with Klinefelter’s syndrome did not show remorse and most of them justified their crime as rehabilitation response. Although the number of cases involved in this study was not large, the results clearly revealed that Klinefelter’s syndrome is markedly occurred in Iraq particularly in infertile men and in prisoners. However this syndrome has not drawn any attention and has not been considered correctly through medical assessments. This study strongly recommends doing multidisciplinary research works on this syndrome through large epidemiological study through focusing on health, social, behavior, psychological and genetic of men who have this syndrome. Moreover this study recommends performing chromosomal analysis for every newborn, infertile, and tall prisoner males.