THE MONGOLOID SPOTS OBSERVED ON THE
CHILDREN AND NEWBORN BABIES OF TURKEY
Dr. SENİHA TUNAKAN
Assistant Professor of AnthropologySummary
The mongoloid spot observed in all races and considered as a particu larity of skin has been a subject to study for various investigators in our country and they have come to the conclusion that Turkish children have these spots much more than the others1. In 1932, Prof. Ş. A. Kansu
examined 300 children, 133 girls and 167 boys, between one day and 13 years of age. Among these 300 children, 17 had mongoloid spots on their bodies, their age varying between ten and twenty-four monthus, only one of them was six years old. As to sex, the spots were distributed thus: Eight girls and nine boys. So the percentage was %5,6. %6,o on girls and %5,3 on boys. The author gave these results not according to the age of children he examined, but according to the places he made these observations. However, we understand from the above statement that mongoloid spots occur less as children grow older.
Dr. N. Somersan studied on the same subject in 1932, examining 308 children between o and 15 years of age2. He grouped children accor
ding to their age. The mongoloid spot was observed on sixteen children among 99, between o and 1 year of age ( % 1 6 , 1 ) ; on six children among 48, between 1 and 2 years of age (%12,5); on five children among 34, between 2 and 3 years of age (%14,7); on three children among 15, bet ween 3 and 5 years of age (%20,o); on two children among 112, between five and over five years of age (%1.7). If we summarize, the mongoloid spot was observed on 32 children, eighteen boys and fourteen girls. The result being % 10,38, is almost the double of the result obtained by Prof. Kansu. The reason why these two reserch workers obtained entirely diffe rent results though they studied on the same number of children of the
1 Kansu, Ş. Aziz: Türk çocuklarında anadan doğma mavi lekeler (Sur la tache
bleue congénitale chez les nouveaux-nés et les enfants turcs). Türk Antropoloji Mecmuası (Revue Turque d'Anthropologie), No. 13-14, pp. 37-45 1932.
2 Somersan, Naci: İstanbul muhiti çocuklarında mongol lekeleri (Taches
mongo-liques chez les enfants d'Istanbul et de ses environs). Tıp Cemiyeti Mecmuası (Bulletin de la Société Turque de Medecine). No. 12, s. 427-429. pp. 123-125, 1938.
(We should like to point out here that Naci Somersan indicated both in the Turkish and French texts that he made his obserhvations on 400 children and grouped them accor ding to their age. But the total number of children examined is 308, not 400. We are giving here the revised form. Turkish text, page: 428, French text, page: 124).
52 SENİHA TUNAKAN
same age —especially in such a case that differs according to the age— might be that the total number of children and also the number of children in each group were not sufficient for such statistics. It is probable that chances here changed the results. On the other hand, we should also bear in mind that " t h e results might be different according to the standards accepted by each investigator" 1.
Another observation was made by Dr. H. Field in 1940, on greater number of children2. He based his study called (The "mongoloid spot" in Turkey and Iraq), upon three reports sent to him by. Dr. Asım Arar, Under Secretary of State to the Ministry of Hygiene and Social Assistance, then, In his report, Dr. H. Field gave the results of the observations made in the Children Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Istanbul and in the Children Clinic of the Ayslum. The children observed were between o and 14 years of age. The first report consists of two series of observations. In the first series of observations, 308 children were examined and the mongoloid spot was observed on forty-seven boys and thirty-eight girls under 5 years of age, (%27,5, table 1). In the second series of obser vations, 987 children were examined and the mongoloig spot was observed on 87 children (%8,8), forty-nine boys and thirty-eight girls. In the second report, we have the results of the observations made on 3560 children, 171 of these, 92 boys and 79 girls had mongoloid spots. As the children were grouped according to their age, no mongoloid spot was observed on children over 4 years of age, but occurred mostly during the first years of age. The third report gives the results of the observations made in various medical centers of Turkey 3. In this case, mongoloid spots were recorded on 7916 children, 108 boys and 79 girls. These three reports indicate that the mongoloid spots occur mostly in the sacro-coccygeal and iliac regions and the frequency is higher on children under four years of age and occur on males more than on females. These reports also give an idea about the pigmentation of the parents of children carrying spots and also the colour *of their hair and skin. Spots mostly occur on children with dark skin and dark coloured hair. Colour of the spots varied between light blue, slate gray and dark gray according to the colour of the skin of children.
While summarizing the results of these three reports based on great numbers, we should like to indicate to one more point. Dr. H. Field, in the summary he gave at the end of his studies, indicated that 11784 Turkish children were examined, between the age of o and 14 and the mongoloid spots were observed on 445 children, 249 boys and 196 girls (%3,75). It
1 Kansu, Ş. Aziz. The same publication, pp. 44, 45.
3 Field, H.: The "mongoloid spot" in Turkey and Iraq. American Journal of Phy sical Anthropology, XXVI, pp. 119-136, 1940.
3 Here, the author gives the results obtained in Ankara Numune Hospital as a high frequency (%21,0) and attributes this to a probable mistake. Yet, our observations —-which
THE MONGOLOID SPOT IN TURKEY 53 seems that, he did not take into account the 987 children examined for the second series of the first report. Thus, 308 children were examined for the first series of observations of the first report, 3560 children for the second report and 7916 children for the third report. This gives us a total number of 11784 children. As to the number of children carrying spots, here again, it seems that the author took into consideration only the 87 children carrying spots, who were observed for the second series of the first report. Yet, if we take into consideration the total number of children examined in three reports and the total number of children carrying spots, the result would be a little different. T h e total number of children exa-mined is 12771, not 11784. T h e mongoloid spot was observed on 530 children, 234 girls and 296 boys. So the frequency in Turkish children should be %4,15 instead of %3,75. In the first report, 85 children among 308, carried spots, that is to say, the frequency is %27,5. So, as a result of this very high frequency, the average proportion changed from %3,75
to %4,15
To finish with this first group of studies, we should add that these studies-with some changes indicated above-— give a summary of the exa-minations made in our country. In all these studies, 13379 children bet-ween the ages of o and 14 were examined by various investigators and the mongoloid spots were observed on 579 children, 256 girls and 323 boys. Thus, the frequency in Turkish children is %4,32, that is to say, among hundred children between the age of o and 14, four or five have mongoloid spots. This morphological characteristics of Turkish people indicate that they can be grouped among Southern European and Eastern Mediterranean races with dark skin.
Mongoloid spots on newborn babies:
It is known that the mongoloid spot mostly appears during the first years of age, even in the first few months after birth. These spots are for-med during the intrauterian life, so babies are born with these spots. Sometimes, spots may occur a few days after birth. As the child develops, the spot grows lighter in colour, and then it disappears. As we have already indicated above, various investigators made some observations on Turkish children between the age of o and 14 and studied the appearance of the mongoloid spot. T h e reason why we are dealing here with this matter again is t h a t we restricted our observations only to newborn babies, because, previous studies do not give any idea about the number of Turkish children born with these spots. For this purpose, we examined 1013 new-born babies in the Ankara Nursing Home. T h e eldest of these children was only one week old, they were mostly between the age of o and 4 days. Among 466 girls and 547 boys we examined, 271 children: 139 girls and 132 boys had mongoloid spots. T h e frequency here is so surprising that it gives a result of %26,75. Among the children carrying spots. %51,3
54 SENİHA TUNAKAN
were girls and %48,7 boys. Spots were observed mostly on children with dark skin and dark hair. T h e colour of the spots changed from pale blue to gray blue and dark gray blue. As recorded in the second series of obser vations, mongoloid spots occurred most frequently in the sacro iliac region, then in the sacro-coccygeal and iliac regions. In this observation, no spot was recorded on the back of children. It was observed that the spots on the sacrum usually extended to waist. It seems that there is no connection between the mongoloid spot and the sex. As S. Wateff indicated, these spots occur in both sex equally1.
These observations made on newborn babies of Ankara and its surro undings and the results obtained, naturally could not be extended to all Turkish newborns. The important point is that the results obtained in previous observations made by various investigators on newborn babies up to one year oid, more or less confirm the results we obtained in our study. We can say that in our country babies are generally born with blue sacral spots. This is concerned with the pigmentation of the race we belong to. Spots disappear as child grows older are and rarely seen on children over five years of age. The results obtained after the examination made on newborn babies shows that we can compare the race we belong to with the Southern European and Eastern Mediterranean races.
1 Wateff, S. : Taches pigmentaires chez les enfants bulgares. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, pp. 241, 1907.
