Patients and families

What is Mental Retardation

According to the American Association on Mental Retardation, mental retardation (MR) is defined as a significant impairment of cognitive and adaptive functions with onset before age 18 years. MR is associated with decreased intelligence and impairment of two or more social skills such as communication, self-determination, health and security, spare time and career/profession. Unlike isolated mental retardation, syndromal mental retardation occurs with additional physical abnormalities. It is assumed that in industrial countries with good health care genetic defects are the main cause of MR whereas exogenous factors play only a minor role. In spite of the achievements in genome research the underlying cause in the majority of cases is unknown. Therefore, neither an adequate prognosis and therapy nor a substantiated genetic counselling and prenatal diagnosis can be offered to affected patients and families. Using state-of-the-art technologies, MRNET is aimed at the identification of new genetic causes of mental retardation.

Study participation in one of our MR centres