HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS CME ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) E-Letters: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when E-Letters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yunis, K. Articles by Mumtaz, G. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Yunis, K. Articles by Mumtaz, G. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

NeoReviews Vol.9 No.2 2008 e59
© 2008 American Academy of Pediatrics

International Perspectives

Consanguinity: Perinatal Outcomes and Prevention – A View from the Middle East

^* Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon for the National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Introduction

 
Consanguinity is defined as the marriage between individuals who have a common ancestor. Many epidemiologic studies have examined consanguineous marriages and their health impact on offspring. Because related individuals share genes from a common ancestor, homozygosity is favored, and their progeny are more likely to have genetic disorders. Primarily, offspring of consanguineous parents are at a twofold greater risk than offspring of nonrelated parents for autosomal recessive disorders. (1)(2) Advances in genetics have led to a deeper understanding of the impact of inbreeding on the occurrence of genetic anomalies. Studies show that inbreeding is associated with mortality and morbidity in the fetal, neonatal, and childhood stages. Because consanguinity represents a risk factor for the occurrence of many deleterious outcomes, it is of major scientific and public health interest. This article summarizes the primary health-related adverse effects of consanguinity and discusses potential preventive measures.

	Prevalence and Sociodemographic Aspects

 
Despite the adverse effects caused by consanguineous unions, such relationships still occur in many countries. Bittles (3) has illustrated the global prevalence of consanguineous marriage (Fig. 1). The prevalence can be divided into three major regions. The first region includes Western Europe, North America, Australasia, and Russia, where only 1% of marriages are consanguineous. The second region includes the Iberian Peninsula, Japan, and South America, where 1% to 10% of marriages are consanguineous. The third region includes most of North and sub-Saharan Africa as well as West, Central and South Asia, where 20% to 50% of marriages are consanguineous. The specific types and rate of consanguineous marriages vary between and within countries. In the Middle East, the overall rate of consanguineous unions varies between 21% in Lebanon (Ministry of Public Health, 1998) and up to 58% in Saudi Arabia. (4) The most common form of consanguineous unions practiced . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?