Consanguineous marriage is a deeply rooted tradition in the Arab world. Such marriages are linked to higher rates of recessive genetic diseases. During the Syrian conflict, which started in 2011, around one million Syrian individuals became refugees in Lebanon. This study assessed the consanguinity rates among Syrian refugees living in Lebanon up to three successive consanguineous generations, and examined refugees’ awareness of the possible consequences of consanguineous marriage and their attitudes towards consanguinity. Their knowledge of, and access to, premarital screening was also assessed. The study was conducted between January and May 2018. Several study sites representing refugees’ distribution within the country were chosen. The study sample included 1008 interviewees from different families. Of those interviewed, 51.9% were in a consanguineous marriage. Interestingly, 23.9% were the product of consanguineous marriages themselves, and 17.9% were consanguineous for three successive generations. The interviewees generally knew about premarital screening, but the majority (61.9%) had not had the screening. The high rates of consanguinity in these Syrian refugees call for immediate action, including raising genetic awareness and providing appropriate genetic counselling. Despite the respondents’ familiarity with premarital screening, there was a low rate of uptake of the test, underscoring the importance of providing better education to these refugees.
HSF chr9:27228194 84.19 56.32 -33.1% broken WT acceptor site MaxEnt chr9:27228186 7.65 -1.1 -114.38% broken WT acceptor site HSF: Human Splicing Finder; MaxEnt: Maximum Entropy; WT: wild type; CV: consensus value; ΔCV: variation between mutant and WT CVs.Analysis is done using HSF Pro version 4.3.3. ΔCV reduction of at least 10% using HSF and 30% using MaxEnt algorithms is indicative for a mutation to have a significant impact on splicing.
Purpose:
To study the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)–related lockdown on myopia progression of school-aged children, comparing across the years and within different age groups.
Methods:
This was a retrospective chart review of school-aged children with myopia who presented to the pediatric ophthalmology clinic at the American University of Beirut between January 2020 and December 2021 (during COVID-19 lockdown). Annual myopia progression rate (back to January 2016) was computed by dividing the absolute value of the spherical equivalent (SE) difference of two consecutive visits by the duration (in years). Demographic data were retrieved. Patients were then divided into three age groups (3 to 10, 11 to 14, and 15 to 18 years) for analysis.
Results:
A total of 443 charts of myopic school-aged children were reviewed. Their average age was 11.81 ± 3.67 years with an average of 3.85 ± 1.67 visits across the years. The mean myopic SE increased over time: SE in 2021 was significantly higher than the mean SE in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Mean SE in 2020 was significantly higher than that in 2016 and 2017. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean annual progression (in diopters/year). For the 3 to 10 years group, the annual SE progression tended to be highest for 2020–2021 and 2019–2020 compared to previous years.
Conclusions:
Children had more myopia in 2021 and 2020 (during lockdown) compared to previous years. The myopia annual progression tended to be highest in 2020–2021, especially for the younger age group, but the difference was not statistically significant.
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J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus
. 20XX;XX(X):XX–XX.]
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