Incidence of chromosome abnormalities in 4,591 tall Danish men

All men born during the years 1944 to 1947 to mothers registered in the Municipality of Copenhagen at the time of delivery, were identified. The adult heights of these 31,438 men were investigated and this proved successful in 28,884 cases. From these, the 15.9% highest individuals or 4,591 were selected. It proved possible to obtain material for chromosome investigation and/or sex chromatin investigation from 4,139 or 90.2%. A total of 41 abnormalities were found (1%). Thirty-three of these were sex chromosome abnormalities and six were autosomal abnormalities. Among the sex chromosome abnormalities there were 12 XYY men (0.3%) and 16 XXY men (0.4%). Men with XYY and XXY chromosome constitutions were taller than the average in the group of tall men from which they were taken.