Abstract

Of the 18,219 live births registered in Békés County (Hungary) in the period 1970-72, 523 infants came to treatment for congenital dislocation of the hip. The diagnosis was verified by radiography. The incidence of 28·7 per 1,000 live births is consistent with the values noted in a previous study conducted in Budapest. Differences in applying diagnostic criteria, the high proportion of first-born infants, the unhealthy swaddling customs, and the supposedly higher occurrence of genetic predisposition to congenital dislocation of the hip may account for the high incidence, which is much greater than values reported in countries of Western Europe and North America.