Consanguinity

Consanguineous marriage occurs in countries and societies across the world and has been practiced for centuries. Consanguinity refers to the fact of having shared ancestry. Tadmouri et al. refers to Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Egypt (Nubia), Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen as “Arab countries” and the following essay will continue with that verbiage (Tadmouri et al., 2009). In Arab countries, first cousin marriages may reach about 25-30% of all marriages which is some of the highest rates observed worldwide (2009). Figure 1 below shows the rates of consanguinity between second cousins or closer across the globe. These rates can be traced to socio-cultural practices with reasons such as “maintenance of family structure and property, ease of marital arrangements, and better relations with in-laws financial advantages relating to dowry” (Tadmouri et al., 2009).

Incest causes increased homozygosity, which is the fact of having identical forms of a particular gene (Rudan et al., 2003). This causes an increased chance of expressing a recessive trait. Many diseases are linked to or caused by recessive alleles. Due to these genetic probabilities, this can harm the offspring of two related individuals. Studies have found a 4-5% increase in childhood mortality in children from first cousin parents (2003).

A report by March of Dimes demonstrated that more live births in Arab countries are affected by medically significant birth defects than births in Europe, North America, and Australia where rates of consanguinity are significantly lower (Tadmouri et al., 2009). One example is that, even after controlling for confounding variables, “first cousin consanguinity remained significantly associated with an increased risk of congenital heart defects (CHD)” (2009).

Having ancestry with high rates of consanguinity can affect one's health outcomes. Types of healthcare necessary for communities with higher rates of consanguinity may differ from others. MENA Americans are affected by the socio-cultural factors in their ancestral countries which may contribute to differences in health outcomes.