CONSANGUINITY AMONG THE SAUDI-ARABIAN POPULATION

This study was conducted on 3212 Saudi families to investigate the pre valence of consanguineous marriages. The families were interviewed and the information on the relationship between the husband and wife was obtained. The overall rate of consanguinity shows that 57.7% of the fa milies screened were consanguineous. The most frequent were first cous in marriages (28.4%) followed by distant relative marriages (15.2%) an d second cousin marriages (14.6%). The families were grouped according to the province of their origin and the consanguinity rates were calc ulated accordingly. There were slight differences in the consanguinity rates in the five provinces, which ranged from 52.1% to 67.7%. In eac h province first cousin marriages were the most frequently encountered pattern, ranging from 17.9% to 40.9%. The inbreeding coefficient (F) was calculated for each province and ranged from 0.020 to 0.030. Withi n each province, there were several significant differences among the populations in the different areas. The highest rate of consanguinity was 80.6% in Samtah and the lowest rate was around 34% in Abha in the South Western province. These results place Saudi Arabia among the cou ntries of the world with a high rate of consanguinity. The possible co nsequences of increased consanguinity are presented and discussed.