Open AccessPremarital counselling: an experience from Bahrain
Author(s) -
Shaikha Salim Al Arrayed,
Nada Hafadh,
Samera Al Serafi
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
eastern mediterranean health journal/eastern mediterranean health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1687-1634
pISSN - 1020-3397
DOI - 10.26719/1997.3.3.415
Subject(s) - sickle cell trait , offspring , medicine , consanguineous marriage , genetic counseling , demography , consanguinity , disease , pediatrics , trait , family medicine , pregnancy , genetics , biology , sociology , computer science , programming language
The present study was conducted to analyse data of the first 500 clients who voluntarily attended premarital counselling during 1993-1994. It was found that 74.1% of clients were not related to their partner, 23.2% were first cousins and 1.5% were second cousins;the rest were distant relatives. Sickle-cell disease was found in 1.6% of clients, sickle-cell trait in 13.0%, beta-thalassaemia trait in 2.0% and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in 26.0%. Of the couples attending counselling, 8.1% were found to be at risk of having affected offspring. The consanguinity rate among the couples at risk was 15.4%