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PMID: 19811666 Published · epublish English Journal Article

Consanguinity and reproductive health among Arabs.

Reproductive health ·Vol. 6 ·2009-10-08 ·Pages 17

Tadmouri GO, Nair P, Obeid T, Al Ali MT, Al Khaja N, Hamamy HA

Abstract

Consanguineous marriages have been practiced since the early existence of modern humans. Until now consanguinity is widely practiced in several global communities with variable rates depending on religion, culture, and geography. Arab populations have a long tradition of consanguinity due to socio-cultural factors. Many Arab countries display some of the highest rates of consanguineous marriages in the world, and specifically first cousin marriages which may reach 25-30% of all marriages. In some countries like Qatar, Yemen, and UAE, consanguinity rates are increasing in the current generation. Research among Arabs and worldwide has indicated that consanguinity could have an effect on some reproductive health parameters such as postnatal mortality and rates of congenital malformations. The association of consanguinity with other reproductive health parameters, such as fertility and fetal wastage, is controversial. The main impact of consanguinity, however, is an increase in the rate of homozygotes for autosomal recessive genetic disorders. Worldwide, known dominant disorders are more numerous than known recessive disorders. However, data on genetic disorders in Arab populations as extracted from the Catalogue of Transmission Genetics in Arabs (CTGA) database indicate a relative abundance of recessive disorders in the region that is clearly associated with the practice of consanguinity.

Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Tadmouri Ghazi O
Centre for Arab Genomic Studies, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. [email protected]
Nair Pratibha
Obeid Tasneem
Al Ali Mahmoud T
Al Khaja Najib
Hamamy Hanan A
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Article Info
Journal
Reproductive health
Abbr.
Reprod Health
ISSN
1742-4755
DOI
10.1186/1742-4755-6-17
Email
[email protected]
Published
2009-10-08
Epub
2009-00-08
Pages
17
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
101224380
PMCID
PMC2765422
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1186/1742-4755-6-17 PMC Full Text View journal details
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