Consanguineous Marriage in a Newly Developed Country: The Qatari Population

Abstract

This study examines the frequency of consanguineous marriage and coefficient of inbreeding in the State of Qatar. The study was conducted in semi-urban areas of Doha between January and May 2004. A sample of 1515 married Qatari females aged 15 years and over participated. The degree of consanguinity between each female and her spouse, and degree of consanguinity between their parents were recorded. The rate of consanguinity in the present generation was high (54.0%) with a coefficient of inbreeding of 0.02706. The commonest type of consanguineous marriage was between first cousins (34.8%). Double first cousin marriages were common (3.1%) compared with other populations. The consanguinity rate in the State of Qatar has increased from 41.8% to 54.5% in one generation.

Y-chromosome diversity characterizes the Gulf of Oman

“…61 Similar studies conducted in Qatar indicate a rate of consanguinity of 54.0% (first cousin marriages accounting for 34.8%) and a coefficient of inbreeding of 0.02706, 62 whereas comparable consanguinity values were observed in UAE (50.5%) 63 and Oman (35.9%). 64 These figures are representative of the region as a whole where consanguineous marriages are prevalent (28.96% in Egypt, 60 33% in Syria, 65 51.2 -54.4% in Jordan, 66,67 57.7% in Saudi Arabia 68 and 54.4% in Kuwait 69 ).…”

Consanguineous marriages, pearls and perils: Geneva International Consanguinity Workshop Report

“…This is particularly the case in rural areas 16;22 , and to an extent among highly educated males but less frequently in tertiary educated females 9 . In fact, consanguinity seems to be increasing in some Arab countries including Qatar 23 and Yemen 24 , possibly because of a belief that the social benefits of consanguineous marriages can outweigh the genetic risks, and also due to misconceptions surrounding the nature of genetic risks among some members of the general public. However, variability in the composition of the populations sampled across generations make such observations difficult to confirmsustain.…”

Consanguinity, endogamy, and genetic disorders in Tunisia

“…It is estimated that more than 690 million people in the world are consanguineous (Bittles and Black 2010). Middle East, Northern Africa, and South Asia are regions that have historically and culturally had a high rate of consanguineous unions (AlAwadi et al 1985;Al-Gazali et al 1997;Jaber et al 1997;Bittles et al 2002;Bener and Alali 2006). Recent studies have shown that 20 % to 50 % of marriages in Arab countries are between relatives (Tadmouri et al 2009;Bittles 2011;Hamamy et al 2011).…”

“…Recent studies have shown that 20 % to 50 % of marriages in Arab countries are between relatives (Tadmouri et al 2009;Bittles 2011;Hamamy et al 2011). The rate was 68 % in Egypt (Mokhtar and Abdel-Fattah 2001), 51-58 % in Jordan (Khoury and Massad 1992;Sueyoshi and Ohtsuka 2003;Hamamy et al 2005), 52 % in Qatar (Bener and Alali 2006;Bener and Hussain 2006), 50 % in the United Arab Emirates (Bener et al 1996), 54 % in Kuwait (Al-Awadi et al 1985;Hijazi and Haider 2001), 58 % in Saudi Arabia (El-Hazmi et al 1995), 40 % to 47 % in Yemen (Jurdi and Saxena 2003;Gunaid et al 2004), and 50 % in Oman (Rajab et al 2000). Consanguineous unions are also frequent in many NonArab Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey with 21.2 % (Başaran et al 1988) and Iran with 38.6 % (Saadat et al 2004).…”