Attitudes of parents with a child with autosomal recessive disease toward consanguinity

The major aim of this study is to examine the perspective and attitudes of parents with one or more affected children by an AR disease towards consanguineous marriages. A total of 285 parents were invited to participate in this study. The sample was divided into two groups: clinical sample including parents attending various clinics in hospitals and a community sample. A self-administered survey was developed by researchers. The questionnaire was about the subjects’ attitudes toward consanguinity and was divided into two parts: sociocultural and health attitudes. SPSS was used for data entry and analysis. Chi-square, t-test and Pearson correlation were the major statistical procedures. Significant differences were found between consanguineous parents with at least one affected child with an AR genetic disease and the community sample (non-consanguineous parents). Regarding the prevalence of consanguinity, support consanguinity in general, parents want their children to marry a relative and consanguinity is common in their family, significant differences were also found between clinical and community samples. Regarding health attitudes, significant differences between the two samples were found in six out of seven examined variables. A relationship between the rate of consanguinity and the respondent’s education level was found. High level of inbreeding with increasing consanguinity rates is responsible for the high prevalence of inherited AR genetic disorders in the MENA region with subsequent morbidity and mortality.