Prevalence and social correlates to consanguinity in Kuwait.

BACKGROUND

Kuwait has one of the highest consanguinity rates in the world. Our objectives in this study were to assess the frequency and trend in consanguineous marriages, and to identify factors associated with inbreeding.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A representative sample of 482 households from the most developed (the Capital), and the least developed (Jahra), of the five governorates in Kuwait was selected. The study involved only Kuwaiti nationals. A structured questionnaire was administered by previously trained team members through a household face-to-face interview.

RESULTS

Data were obtained for 959 current or previous marriages. Frequency of total (first and second cousin) consanguinity was much higher in Jahra governorate (42.1%) than the Capital (22.6%). Over the last decade, the inbreeding has decreased in the Capital but not in Jahra. Bivariate analysis indicated that several socioeconomic and demographic variables were significantly associated with consanguinity. The control of confounding factors by logistic regression showed, however, that Bedouin origin and year of marriage were the only variables significantly related to consanguinity.

CONCLUSION

There is a widening gap between Bedouins and non-Bedouins in the practice of consanguinity in Kuwait.