Colour blindness is one of the common genetic disorders observed in all human populations. It is a sex-linked recessive trait. The genes are located on the X chromosome within the Xq28 band. 1,418 university students (1,200 female and 218 male) from Zarka Private University and the Hashemite University were randomly selected and tested for congenital red/green colour blindness, by using Ishihara pseudo-isochromatic colour plates. A total of 23 individuals were found to be colour blind. In females, 4 students (0.33%) were colour blind: 1 of them showed protanomalia, 1 protanopia and 2 deuteranomalia. In males, 19 students (8.72%) were colour blind: 4 showed protanomalia, 3 protanopia, 8 deuteranomalia and 4 deuteranopia. The allelic frequencies of the colour vision gene were found to be 0.087 in males, 0.003 in females and 0.016 in the total population. Studies on colour blindness in Jordan are very few; this population-based investigation is meant to fill a gap in this field.

In a sample of 1,250 Palestinian women living in cities, villages and refugee camps of the West Bank over a period of 50 years, we studied the number of pregnancies, children and miscarriages per woman, the waiting time to the first pregnancy, birth spacing between children, and the average age of women at first live birth. The average number of pregnancies, the percentage of miscarriages, the waiting time to the first pregnancy and the birth interval between children decreased with time in all locations. The average age of women at first live birth in cities and villages showed very little difference, but slightly lower in refugee camps.