A population-based study of inter-generational attitudes towards consanguineous marriages in north-eastern Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate beliefs, attitudes and reproductive behaviours in relation to consanguinity in a population living in the backlands of north-eastern Brazil. Data were collected by face-to-face interview from 147 high school students aged 13–20 years and from 532 elderly individuals aged 60 years and over from Brejo dos Santos in the state of Paraíba in 2017. The frequency of consanguineous marriage was found to have increased over the generations, being 15.9% in the parents of the elderly participants, 17.1% in the elderly participants themselves and 20.5% in their descendants. Although 258 (50.9%) of the elderly interviewees opposed consanguineous union, 341 (65.3%) would approve of the marriage of their children with relatives. Both the young (n=108 or 78.3%) and elderly (n=398 or 80.4%) interviewees believed that consanguineous marriages were no more durable than non-consanguineous marriages (p=0.578). Additionally, 408 (82.4%) of the elderly individuals and 108 (80.6%) of the students recognized that spouses in consanguineous unions experience conflicts, just like other couples do (p=0.625). In both groups, the majority of the participants did not believe that consanguinity increased the risk of having children with disabilities. The regression of the two continuous variables ‘age’ and ‘positive attitudes score’ showed a significant correlation, suggesting that younger individuals are more susceptible to the influence of cultural factors contributing to consanguinity, such as the opinions of their parents and grandparents. The belief that consanguineous unions are more durable showed a significant difference between elderly individuals in consanguineous and non-consanguineous unions (p=0.001); the former were 2.42 more likely to believe that marriages between relatives contributes to marriage durability.

Health-Related Quality of Life and Associated Factors: Regional Differences Among Oldest-Old in Brazil

“…This was a quantitative cross-sectional study conducted with oldest-old aged 80 and over from two different cities in socioeconomic, demographic, and cultural terms: São Paulo (SABE-SP), one of the largest urban centers in Latin America and, Brejo dos Santos (SABE-PB), a city located in the Northeast hinterland, where several previous studies have been conducted regarding the quality of data collected by health workers 25 , consanguinity and genetic diseases [26][27][28] . All information was collected in the senior's homes through the Health, Well-being and Aging (Saúde, Bem-estar e Envelhecimento -SABE) survey questionnaire 29,30 which was administered by trained interviewers.…”

The structure of first-cousin marriages in Brazil

“…The present work was based on large data sets personally collected by us (1) on a routine basis from the identification archives of the genetic counseling service of the Human Genetics Laboratory (Department of Genetics, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SE Brazil) from 1979 to 2010, totaling anonymoulsy collected information on 989 marriages between first cousins; and (2) in 35 municipalities from the state of Paraíba in NE Brazil, totaling 909 marriages between first cousins and collected recently 21 . We performed also a comprehensive review of reliable published data in a significant number of reports from the literature and comprehensively reanalyzed all this material.…”

Relationship Between Consanguineous Marriages and Incidence and Severity of Refractive Errors: A Cross-sectional Study

“…[21] The community awareness of pathological/ genetic risks due to consanguineous unions is not at the optimum level. [22][23][24] Competent genetic counselling services and community-level genetic literacy interventions are greatly needed. [25][26][27] There are community programs that detect carriers of hemoglobinopathies, such as thalassemia and sickle cell anemia, through the implementation of premarital screening in some middle east countries, including Saudi Arabia.…”