Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jan;8(1):e1051.
doi: 10.1002/mgg3.1051. Epub 2019 Dec 2.

Effects of consanguinity in a cohort of subjects with certain genetic disorders in Qatar

Tawfeg Ben-Omran  1   2   3 , Kaltham Al Ghanim  4 , Tarunashree Yavarna  1 , Maha El Akoum  1 , Muthanna Samara  5 , Prem Chandra  6 , Nader Al-Dewik  1   7   8
Affiliations

Effects of consanguinity in a cohort of subjects with certain genetic disorders in Qatar

Tawfeg Ben-Omran et al. Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Consanguineous marriages are common in the Middle East including the Gulf countries. The rate of consanguinity in Qatar is approximately 54%, which are mainly first cousins' marriages. Previous studies showed that consanguinity increases the prevalence of birth defects and other genetic disorders. Thus, we studied the effects of consanguinity in a cohort of subjects with certain genetic disorders in Qatar.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at two centers in Qatar (Hamad Medical Corporation "HMC" and Shafallah "SC") including 599 Qatari families with certain types of genetic and nongenetic anomalies.

Results: Consanguineous marriages were seen in 397 of 599 (66.2%) Qatari families and first cousin group counts for 65% in Qatari population. In the total cohort and at HMC, all consanguineous marriages had a significantly higher risk of Autosomal Recessive disorders than nonconsanguineous marriages (total cohort: odds ratio (OR) = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.10, 2.71; p = .02; HMC: OR = 2.98; 95% CI: 1.37, 6.09; p = .005). On the other hand, at HMC, nonconsanguinity was significantly related to chromosomal abnormality (OR = 6.36; 95% CI: 1.13, 35.85; p = .036).

Conclusion: Our data suggest a significant role of parental consanguinity in increasing the prevalence of genetic disorders; mainly Autosomal Recessive disorders. Chromosomal abnormality disorders were significantly higher among nonconsanguineous marriages. These results help better inform policy makers on social, educational, and public health initiatives that might mitigate the impact of genetic disease in the Qatari society.

Keywords: Arab; Autosomal Recessive; Qatar; consanguinity; genetic disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Meta‐analysis for the specific odds ratio (95% confidence interval “CI”) of each study (institutions: Hamad Medical Corporation [HMC] and Shafallah Center [SC]) and the total pooled odds ratio for each genetic disorder, age, and gender with regards to their relationship to consanguinity
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abdulrazzaq, Y. M. , Bener, A. , Al‐Gazali, L. I. , Al‐Khayat, A. I. , Micallef, R. , & Gaber, T. (1997). A study of possible deleterious effects of consanguinity. Clinical Genetics, 51(3), 167–173. 10.1111/j.1399-0004.1997.tb02447.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. 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(4), 491–497. 10.1017/S0021932097004914 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Al‐Gazali, L. I. , Sztriha, L. , Dawodu, A. , Bakir, M. , Varghese, M. , Varady, E. , … Padmanabhan, R. (1999). Pattern of central nervous system anomalies in a population with a high rate of consanguineous marriages. Clinical Genetics, 55(2), 95–102. 10.1034/j.1399-0004.1999.550205.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bener, A. , & Alali, K. (2006). Consanguineous marriage in a newly developed country: The Qatari population. Journal of Biosocial Science, 38, 239–246. 10.1017/S0021932004007060 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bener, A. , & Mohammad, R. R. (2017). Global distribution of consanguinity and their impact on complex diseases: Genetic disorders from an endogamous population. Egyptian Journal of Medical Human Genetics, 18(4), 315–320. 10.1016/j.ejmhg.2017.01.002 - DOI

Publication types