Abstract
The Bedouin population in Israel is a semi-nomadic traditional patriarchal society. Consanguineous marriages are very common, contributing to high rates of congenital malformations and genetic diseases, resulting in high infant mortality. Data on consanguineous marriages among Bedouins in Israel are limited. This study examined the current prevalence of consanguineous marriages and their determinants among Israeli Bedouins. One thousand two hundred ninety Bedouin women who delivered in the maternity wards of the only hospital serving the Bedouin population were interviewed between November 2009 and January 2010. The prevalence of consanguineous marriages was 44.8 %. The most common type of spousal relationship was first cousins (65.7 % of all consanguineous marriages). The mean inbreeding coefficient was 0.0238. Factors significantly associated with consanguinity were less years of schooling (OR 0.94, 95 % CI (0.88–0.99), p = 0.02) and younger age at marriage of the wife (OR 0.90, 95 % CI (0.80–0.96), p = 0.0002). In conclusion, the rate of consanguineous marriages among Bedouins is very high, making this population at risk for congenital malformations and genetic diseases. Efforts should be directed at better education and provision of premarital and prenatal counseling on the health consequences of consanguineous marriages and the possibilities to lower those risks.
References
Belmaker I (2010) The program to decrease the rates of infant mortality in the Bedouins in southern Israel. Regional Health Office, Southern Region, Ministry of Health, Israel, Annual report. (In Hebrew)
Bittles AH (2001) Consanguinity and its relevance to clinical genetics. Clin Genet 60:89–98
Bromiker R, Glam-Baruch M, Gofin R, Hammerman C, Amitai Y (2004) Association of parental consanguinity with congenital malformations among Arab newborns in Jerusalem. Clin Genet 66:63–66
Central Bureau of Statistics Israel. 2012. Statistical Abstract of Israel. Retrieved from http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/shnatonh_new.htm?CYear=2012&Vol=63&CSubject=3
Hamamy H (2012) Consanguineous marriages: preconception consultation in primary health care settings. J Community Genet 3:185–192
Israel Center for Disease Control (2008) Health status of infant and children aged 0–6 in southern Israel. Regional Health Office, Southern Region, Ministry of Health 314. (In Hebrew).
Jaber L, Bailey-Wilson JE, Haj-Yehia M, Hernandez J, Shohat M (1994) Consanguineous matings in an Israeli-Arab community. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 148:412–415
Jaber L, Halpern GJ, Shohat M (1998) The impact of consanguinity worldwide. Community Genet 1:12–17
Raz AE, Atar M (2004) Cousin marriage and premarital carrier matching in a Bedouin community in Israel: attitudes, service development and educational intervention. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 30:49–51
Raz AE, Atar M, Rodnay M, Shoham-Vardi I, Carmi R (2003) Between acculturation and ambivalence: knowledge of genetics and attitudes towards genetic testing in a consanguineous Bedouin community. Community Genet 6:88–95
Sharkia R, Zaid M, Athamna A, Cohen D, Azem A, Zalan A (2008) The changing pattern of consanguinity in a selected region of the Israeli Arab community. Am J Hum Biol 20:72–77
Shohat T, Romano-Zelekha O (2011) Performance of prenatal genetic testing among pregnant woman in Israel. The Israel Center for Disease Control, Ministry of Health, 343. (In Hebrew)
Tadmouri GO, Nair P, Obeid T, Al Ali MT, Al Khaja N, Hamamy HA (2009) Consanguinity and reproductive health among Arabs. Reprod Health 8:6–17
Vardi-Saliternik R, Friedlander Y, Cohen T (2002) Consanguinity in a population sample of Israeli Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs and Druze. Ann Hum Biol 29:422–431
Weitzman D, Shoham-Vardi I, Elbedour K, Belmaker I, Siton Y, Carmi R (2000) Factors affecting the use of prenatal testing for fetal anomalies in a traditional society. Community Genetics 3:61–70
Compliance with ethics guidelines
We declare that the experiments comply with the current laws in Israel.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Wasef Na’amnih and Orly Romano-Zelekha contributed equally to this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Na’amnih, W., Romano-Zelekha, O., Kabaha, A. et al. Prevalence of consanguineous marriages and associated factors among Israeli Bedouins. J Community Genet 5, 395–398 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-014-0188-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-014-0188-y