Consanguineous marriages are on a decline in Bahrain

Consanguineous marriages now comprise 39 percent of marriages, down from 45.5 percent in previous generations (Al-Arrayed, 1995). This trend for preferential first cousin marriage has serious health implications, including effects on sexual development for the children produced by these couples. The coefficient for inbreeding in Bahrain is 0.0145 (Al-Naser, 1993). The child mortality rate is …