Response Post 1. Choose one (1) of the attached articles and briefly summarize

Response Post
1. Choose one (1) of the attached articles and briefly summarize its findings to extend the discussion with your classmate.
2. Describe how you would express cultural sensitivity when advising an at-risk couple for pre-conception genetic counseling.
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This is my classmates post:
Consanguinity Marriages
Consanguinity is a combined French and Latin word meaning “of the same blood” and is currently the marriage or sexual relations between two people that come from the same biological ancestors, usually 2nd cousins. Consanguineous unions are not as common in western countries, like the United States only accounting for 1%, but are more prominent in Northeastern, African, and Pacific Asian countries, with the highest rates in Qatar (54%), Saudi Arabia (56%), Pakistan (57%), and some South Indian countries (Olubunmi et al., 2019). There have been some correlations to consanguinity having religious roots, mostly stemming from Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. Roughly about 10% of the world’s population are in a consanguineous marriage.
Although there are few, consanguinity has some predisposing and perpetuating factors involving social and cultural beliefs. One of them, as mentioned above, is from a religious perspective. In religions like Judaism and Buddhism, consanguineous marriages are sanctioned. Generally, Islam favors the unions and Christians in the past allowed consanguineous unions, but since 591 CE, marriages have been discouraged unless couples have special privileges obtained from the church (Olubunmi et al., 2019). Cultural aspects, especially countries like Pakistan and in the Middle East, believe consanguineous marriages are stronger because of shared values, socioeconomic status, and better family ties for the treatment of the bride, since husband and wife are related (Olubunmi et al., 2019). It also preserves wealth in families, since grooms will not have to be paid the bride’s dowry if she marries within the family.
There are some risks involved with consanguinity marriages including reproductive consequences, issues with fertility, pregnancy complications or loss, congenital malformations, etc. Consanguinity can increase medical disorders like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disorders, certain types of cancers, asthma, mental retardation, epilepsy, and schizophrenia (Olubunmi et al., 2019). Fertility can be affected by causing low fertility rates with a negative effect on menopause age and is associated with autosomal recessive premature ovarian failure. Pregnancy complications like pre-eclampsia and fetal growth restriction along with periconceptual losses and miscarriages have been associated with consanguineous unions. Congenital malformations of offspring in consanguineous marriages are 2.5 times higher than in cases with unrelated parents, with issues presenting as errors in metabolism, congenital cataracts, deafness, low birth weight, and cardiac malformations (Olubunmi et al., 2019).
In recent years, consanguineous unions have been declining with the help of education of negative side effects and laws made to protect children from being born within a consanguineous marriage. In countries like the United States, marriages between cousins are banned in the majority of the country and can only be performed by a licensed professional in small groups or religious practices. Countries like Brazil have secular and religious laws that ban the marriages of siblings, cousins, or other ancestral descendants (Olubunmi et al., 2019). The other main contribution lowering consanguineous unions is the presence of educating couples and genetic counseling and screening. An article about genetic counseling and screening of consanguineous couples explains that the first step in screening involves a thorough medical family history spanning 3-4 generations (Bennett et al., 2021). Recent technology has reduced costs associated with genetic testing and screening panels has “improved detection of couples at 25% risk to have offspring with an autosomal recessive condition”, (Bennett et al., 2021, p. 1355).
This discussion has enlightened me on the prevalence of consanguinity in the world. My only knowledge prior to this was of past royal family that married within the family to keep the bloodline rich. I had no idea that these practices were still occurring today and encouraged by many countries, religions, cultural practices etc. My hope is that through continued education and available resources, these practices will slowly make their way out, as there has been consistent research that explains why a consanguineous marriage has many health risks.
References
Bennett, R. L., Malleda, N.R., Byers, P. H., Steiner, R. D., & Barr, K. M. (2021). Genetic counseling and screening of consanguineous couples and their offspring practice resource: Focused Revision. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 30(5), 1354-1357. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.uwf.edu/10.1002/jgc4.1477
Olubunmi, O., Neves, K., Badreldeen, A., & Konje, J. C. (2019). A review of the reproductive consequences of consanguinity. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 232, 87-96. https://doi-org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2018.10.042