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In this preliminary report we summarize the results of a 4-year multidisciplinary systematic, etiological clinicogenetic survey of 400 institutionalized mentally retarded patients in Kuwait. All had an intelligence quotient below 50. A constitutional disorder, as the direct cause of the mental retardation, was found in 203 patients (50.75%)): a chromosomal abnormality in 37 (9.25%), Mendelian disorders in 137 (34.25%), MCA/MR in 22 (5.55%) and CNS malformations in 7 cases (1.75%). In 157 patients (39.35%) a pre-, peri or postnatal cause was ascertained. No etiological diagnosis was detected in 40 patients (10%). A detailed analysis of the "disease profile" is given and compared with the results of previous diagnostic genetic surveys among different institutionalized mentally retarded populations in Western and developing countries.