Consanguinity Status in the Arab Society of Israel: Is it Different? |Biomedgrid

Consanguinity is a traditional phenomenon that is common in many communities worldwide, particularly, in Arab societies. Its prevalence was still regarded as being high, despite, its decrease in some communities. The purpose of this review is to shed light on the status of consanguineous marriages (CMs) internationally and locally, in the Arab society of Israel. Some of the data were obtained from national surveys over certain periods of time, while the other data were extracted from published articles as, a search was conducted on specific articles published in relation to the prevalence of consanguinity among the Arab society in Israel. It was found that CMs decreased during a specific time (2000-2004) from 33% to 25.9%, then they started increasing rapidly in the successive periods of time till the end of the survey period i.e., 2017 where it reached 41.6%. A table of compiled local studies concerning this topic was presented. Some studies showed a continuous decrease in the prevalence of consanguinity, as well as a decrease in various types of CMs, particularly, the first cousin and closer marriage type. We recommend the initiation of comprehensive educational programs for various sectors of the population and the implementation of specific community-based genetic counseling (GC) programs that include genetic testing before and during marriage, particularly for consanguineous couples.