Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-7mr9c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-24T19:58:06.982Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

PREVALENCE OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES IN SOUTH SINAI, EGYPT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2012

G. YAMAMAH ,
E. ABDEL-RAOUF ,
A. TALAAT ,
A. SAAD-HUSSEIN ,
H. HAMAMY  and
N. A. MEGUID
G. YAMAMAH
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, National Research Centre (NRC), Egypt
E. ABDEL-RAOUF
Affiliation:
Department of Research on Children with Special Needs (NRC), Egypt
A. TALAAT
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, National Research Centre (NRC), Egypt
A. SAAD-HUSSEIN
Affiliation:
Departments of Environmental and Occupational Medicine (NRC), Egypt
H. HAMAMY
Affiliation:
Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland
N. A. MEGUID
Affiliation:
Department of Research on Children with Special Needs (NRC), Egypt
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A total of 3961 married couples from six major geographical areas representing the South Sinai governorates in Egypt were studied to assess the rate of consanguineous marriage. The population of six selected areas (St Catherines, Nuweiba, Abu Rudeis, Ras Sudr, El Tor and Abu Zenima) were subdivided into Bedouin, urban and mixed populations. A questionnaire-based interview was conducted showing that the consanguinity rate in this region is 37.5%, with the highest rate recorded in Abu Rudeis (52.3%) and lowest rate in Nuweiba (24.1%). Consanguinity was significantly higher among the Bedouin population compared with the urban population in Abu Rudeis, Ras Sudr, El Tor and Abu Zenima, while in St Catherines and Nuweiba there was no statistically significant difference. Among consanguineous couples, 5%, 60% and 35% were double first cousins, first cousins and second cousins respectively. The mean inbreeding coefficient α of the studied population was 0.01845.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 31 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

al-Abdulkareem, A. A. & Ballal, S. G. (1998) Consanguineous marriage in an urban area of Saudi Arabia: rates and adverse health effects on the offspring. Journal of Community Health 23, 75–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
al-Gazali, L. I., Bener, A., Abdulrazzaq, Y. M., Micallef, R., al-Khayat, A. I. & Gaber, T. (1997) Consanguineous marriages in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Biosocial Science 29, 491–497.Google Scholar
Assaf, S. & Khawaja, M. (2009) Consanguinity trends and correlates in the Palestinian Territories. Journal of Biosocial Science 41, 107–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Badr, F. M. (1972) Genetic studies of Egyptian Nubian populations. I. Frequency and types of consanguineous marriages. Human Heredity 22, 387–398.Google Scholar
Bittles, A. (2011) The Global Prevalence of Consanguinity. URL: http://www.consang.net (accessed June 2011).Google Scholar
Bittles, A. H. (2008) A community genetics perspective on consanguineous marriage. Community Genetics 11, 324–330.Google ScholarPubMed
Dawson-Saunders, B. T. R. G. (1994) Basic and Clinical Biostatistics (2nd Edition). Prentice-Hall International Inc., Lange Medical Books.Google Scholar
Emery, A. E. H. (1976) Methodology in Medical Genetics. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, p. 16.Google Scholar
Goodwin, H. (2006) Measuring and Reporting the Impact of Tourism on Poverty. School of Management, University of Surrey, UK. URL: http://haroldgoodwin.info/resources/measuring.pdf.Google Scholar
Hafez, M., El-Tahan, H., Awadalla, M., El-Khayat, H., Abdel-Gafar, A. & Ghoneim, M. (1983) Consanguineous matings in the Egyptian population. Journal of Medical Genetics 20, 58–60.Google Scholar
Hamamy, H., Antonarakis, S. E., Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., Temtamy, S., Romeo, G., Ten Kate, L. P. et al. (2011) Consanguineous marriages, pearls and perils: Geneva International Consanguinity Workshop Report. Genetics and Medicine 13, 841–847.Google Scholar
Hamamy, H., Jamhawi, L., Al-Darawsheh, J. & Ajlouni, K. (2005) Consanguineous marriages in Jordan: why is the rate changing with time? Clinical Genetics 67, 511–516.Google Scholar
Hobbs, J. J. (1989) Bedouin Life in the Egyptian Wilderness. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Hussien, F. H. (1971) Endogamy in Egyptian Nubia. Journal of Biosocial Science 3, 251–257.Google Scholar
Jaber, L., Halpern, G. J. & Shohat, T. (2000) Trends in the frequencies of consanguineous marriages in the Israeli Arab community. Clinical Genetics 58, 106–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jurdi, R. & Saxena, P. C. (2003) The prevalence and correlates of consanguineous marriages in Yemen: similarities and contrasts with other Arab countries. Journal of Biosocial Science 35, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khlat, M. (1988) Consanguineous marriages in Beirut: time trends, spatial distribution. Social Biology 35, 324–330.Google Scholar
Khoury, S. A. & Massad, D. (1992) Consanguineous marriage in Jordan. American Journal of Medical Genetics 43, 769–775.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leonard, W. & Crawford, M. (2002) Human Biology of Pastoral Populations. Cambridge University Press, UK.Google Scholar
Mohamed, M. (1995) An epidemiological study on consanguineous marriage among urban population in Alexandria. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association 70(3–4), 293–305.Google ScholarPubMed
Mokhtar, M. M. & Abdel-Fattah, M. M. (2001) Consanguinity and advanced maternal age as risk factors for reproductive losses in Alexandria, Egypt. European Journal of Epidemiology 17, 559–565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sandridge, A. L., Takeddin, J., Al-Kaabi, E. & Frances, Y. (2010) Consanguinity in Qatar: knowledge, attitude and practice in a population born between 1946 and 1991. Journal of Biosocial Science 42, 59–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SEAM, P. (2004) South Sinai Environmental Action Plan: South Sinai Demographics and Population Projections. URL: http://st-katherine.net/downloads/Demographics%20&%20Population.pdf.Google Scholar
Stevenson, A. C., Johnston, H. A., Stewart, M. I. & Golding, D. R. (1966) Congenital malformations. A report of a study of series of consecutive births in 24 centres. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 34, S127.Google ScholarPubMed
Tadmouri, G. (2009) Genetic disorders in Arab Populations: a 2006 Update. In Tadmouri, G. O., Taleb, Al A. M. & Al Khaja, N. (eds) Genetic Disorders in the Arab World. Bahrain, Dubai.Google Scholar
Tadmouri, G. O., Nair, P., Obeid, T., Al Ali, M. T., Al Khaja, N. & Hamamy, H. A. (2009) Consanguinity and reproductive health among Arabs. Reproductive Health 6, 17.Google Scholar
Teebi, A. (2010) Genetic Disorders among Arab Populations (2nd Edition). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vardi-Saliternik, R., Friedlander, Y. & Cohen, T. (2002) Consanguinity in a population sample of Israeli Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs and Druze. Annals of Human Biology 29, 422–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaoui, S. & Biemont, C. (2002) [Frequency of consanguineous unions in the Tlemcen area (West Algeria)]. Sante 12, 289–295.Google ScholarPubMed