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PREVALENCE OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES AMONG IRANIAN GEORGIANS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2010

LALEH RAFIEE and
MOSTAFA SAADAT
LALEH RAFIEE
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
MOSTAFA SAADAT
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
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Summary

Consanguineous marriage – marriage between relatives – has received a great deal of attention as a potential risk factor for many adverse health outcomes. The present cross-sectional study was done in order to illustrate the prevalence and types of consanguineous marriages among Iranian Georgians living in Frydoonshahr (Isfahan province, central Iran). Data on consanguineous marriages were collected using a simple questionnaire. The total number of couples in this study was 646. Consanguineous marriage was classified by the degree of relationship between couples. First cousin marriages (14.2%) were the most common type of consanguineous marriages, followed by second cousin (7.0%), beyond second cousin (1.5%) and first cousin once removed (0.6%). The mean inbreeding coefficient (α) was calculated as 0.0104 for the population. The present study shows that the study population, as other Iranian populations, has a high level of consanguinity.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , January 2011, pp. 47 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Introduction

Iran has one of the most heterogeneous populations in the world (Amirshahi et al., Reference Amirshahi, Sunderland, Farhud, Tavakoli and Daneshmand1989; Kamkar et al., Reference Kamkar, Saadat, Saadat and Haghighi2003; Mohamadynejad & Saadat, Reference Mohamadynejad and Saadat2008; Rafiee et al., Reference Rafeei, Saadat and Saadat2009). The Georgian peoples living in Frydoonshahr (Isfahan province, central Iran) originally came from Georgia, a Eurasian country in the Caucasus located on the east coast of the Black Sea. About 400 years ago, a group of Georgian people were brought to Iran and resided in a region that today is named Frydoonshahr. At the present time, the Iranian Georgians follow the Shia sect of Islam.

Consanguineous marriage, which is defined as the union of individuals having at least one common ancestor, is influenced by several factors including demographic, religious, cultural and socioeconomic factors (Tuncbilek & Koc, Reference Tuncbilek and Koc1994; Bittles, Reference Bittles2001, Reference Bittles2003; Hamamy et al., Reference Hamamy, Jamhawi, Al-Darawsheh and Ajlouni2005). Many case-control and ecologic studies indicate that consanguineous marriages are associated with a higher risk for autosomal recessive diseases (Bittles et al., Reference Bittles, Grant and Shami1993; Tuncbilek & Koc, Reference Tuncbilek and Koc1994; Stoltenberg et al., Reference Stoltenberg, Magnus, Skrondal and Lie1999; Bittles, Reference Bittles2001; Saadat & Zendeh-Boodi, Reference Saadat and Zendeh-Boodi2006; Saadat, Reference Saadat2005, Reference Saadat2007, Reference Saadat2008a, Reference Saadat2008b; Tadmouri et al., Reference Tadmouri, Nair, Obeid, Al Ali, Al Khaja and Hamamy2009).

Although several studies on the prevalence of consanguinity in Iranian populations have been reported (Farhud et al., Reference Farhud, Mahmoudi, Kamali, Andonian and Saffari1991; Saadat et al., Reference Saadat, Ansari-Lari and Farhud2004; Akrami & Ostai, Reference Akrami and Osati2007; Akrami et al., Reference Akrami, Montazeri, Shomali, Heshmat and Larijani2009; Nafissi et al., Reference Nafissi, Ansari-Lari and Saadat2010), there is no report concerning consanguinity among Iranian Georgians. The present study was therefore undertaken.

Methods

The present cross-sectional study was performed in Frydoonshahr (Isfahan province). Frydoonshahr is situated at 50° 7′ 15″ eastern longitude and 32° 56′ 15″ northern latitude, at an altitude of 2530 m. Frydoonshahr is a small city with 18,000 citizens. These belong to four different groups, namely Georgians, Lurs, Turks and Persians. The majority of residents (about 70%) are Georgians. A total of 646 couples were included in the study. Data on consanguineous marriages were collected using a simple questionnaire by interview. The questionnaires were completed by trained interviewers.

The coefficient of inbreeding (F) is the probability that an individual has received both alleles of a pair from an identical ancestral source, or the proportion of loci at which he is homozygous. Consanguineous marriages were classified by the degree of relationship between couples: first cousins (F=1/16); first cousins once removed (F=1/32); second cousins (F=1/64); and beyond second cousins (F<1/64). The mean inbreeding coefficient (α) was calculated for the population.

Results and Discussion

First cousin marriages (14.2%) were the most common type of consanguineous marriages, followed by second cousin (7.0%), beyond second cousin (1.5%) and first cousin once removed (0.6%). There were no double first cousin marriages among the study sample. The specific types of consanguineous marriage that are favoured can vary quite widely between and within different countries, with religious, ethnic, and local or tribal traditions playing a major role at local and national levels. Among Islamic countries, the most common form of consanguineous marriage contracted is between first cousins (Hafez et al., Reference Hafez, El-Tahan, Awadalla, El-Khayat, Abdel-Gafar and Ghoneim1983; Tuncbilek & Koc, Reference Tuncbilek and Koc1994; Saadat et al., Reference Saadat, Ansari-Lari and Farhud2004; Hamamy et al., Reference Hamamy, Jamhawi, Al-Darawsheh and Ajlouni2005; Othman & Saadat, Reference Othman and Saadat2009). Among the Iranian population, marriages between first cousins account for about 28% of marriages (Saadat et al., Reference Saadat, Ansari-Lari and Farhud2004). The present data show that the overall frequency of consanguinity is 23.3%. The mean inbreeding coefficient (α) was calculated as 0.0104 for the study population. Consanguineous unions are strongly preferred in many Asian and African countries, including Iranian populations (Hafez et al., Reference Hafez, El-Tahan, Awadalla, El-Khayat, Abdel-Gafar and Ghoneim1983; Bittles et al., Reference Bittles, Grant and Shami1993; Tuncbilek & Koc, Reference Tuncbilek and Koc1994; Saadat et al., Reference Saadat, Ansari-Lari and Farhud2004; Hamamy et al., Reference Hamamy, Jamhawi, Al-Darawsheh and Ajlouni2005; Othman & Saadat, Reference Othman and Saadat2009). The present study shows that the study population is the same as other Iranian populations (Farhud et al., Reference Farhud, Mahmoudi, Kamali, Andonian and Saffari1991; Saadat et al., Reference Saadat, Ansari-Lari and Farhud2004; Akrami & Ostai, Reference Akrami and Osati2007; Akrami et al., Reference Akrami, Montazeri, Shomali, Heshmat and Larijani2009; Nafissi et al., Reference Nafissi, Ansari-Lari and Saadat2010) and has a high level of consanguinity. It should be noted that the prevalence of consanguineous marriages in some Iranian populations is higher than its prevalence among the Iranian Georgian population (Farhud et al., Reference Farhud, Mahmoudi, Kamali, Andonian and Saffari1991; Saadat et al., Reference Saadat, Ansari-Lari and Farhud2004).

Based on the authors’ knowledge, there are no data for the prevalence of consanguineous marriages from Georgia. It has been shown that attitude and practice toward consanguinity is deeply correlated with the historical background of the populations (Bittles, Reference Bittles2001, Reference Bittles2003; Saadat, Reference Saadat2007, Reference Saadat2008b). As mentioned in the Introduction, Iranian Georgians originated from Georgia. No data are available on the prevalence of consanguineous marriages among the Georgian population when they were brought to Iran. Recently, it has been shown that at the present time the gene pool of Iranian Georgians is similar to the Caucasian gene pool (Rafiee et al., Reference Rafeei, Saadat and Saadat2009). It is well established that consanguineous marriage is a long-standing social habit among populations (Bittles, Reference Bittles2001; Akrami & Ostai, Reference Akrami and Osati2007; Saadat, Reference Saadat2008b; Tadmouri et al., Reference Tadmouri, Nair, Obeid, Al Ali, Al Khaja and Hamamy2009) and its prevalence depends on several factors, including demographic, cultural and socioeconomic factors (Bittles, Reference Bittles2001, Reference Bittles2003). On the other hand, some studies have indicated that consanguineous marriage may be an important factor in maintaining social stability (Tadmouri et al., Reference Tadmouri, Nair, Obeid, Al Ali, Al Khaja and Hamamy2009). Taken together it might be concluded that a high frequency of consanguineous marriages is a feature of Caucasian populations and/or a positive attitude and practice toward consanguineous marriages is a sociological reflection chosen by the Georgian population after they were brought to Iran in order to maintain their own social stability. This point can be supported by historical studies.

Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to the participants for their close cooperation, and to Dr Maryam Ansari-Lari for critical reading of the manuscript. This study was supported by Shiraz University.

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