Abstract
Marriages between third-degree and more distant relatives are common in many parts of the world. Offspring of consanguineous parents have increased morbidity and mortality related to recessive gene disorders. In a population with a high frequency of consanguinity, we examined the frequency of breast cancer (related in part to tumour genes) and cervical cancers (related to virus infection) among offspring of consanguineous and non-consanguineous parents. Study was done prospectively in the United Arab Emirates. Selected were married female citizens, ages 40–65, who attended 12 primary health care clinics for whatever reason. In a face-to-face interview, subjects were asked: (a) about consanguineous marriages in family; (b) if they have or have had breast or cervical cancer; (c) about family history of cancer, cancer screening and other parameters. Tumour diagnosis was confirmed by review of medical records. Of 1750 women invited into study, 1445 (79%) could be used in analysis. Among 579 (40%) women of consanguineous and 866 (60%) of non-consanguineous parents there were 24 and 54 with breast cancer, respectively (RR = 0.66, CI 0.42 – 1.06). In the 40 to 50 age group, breast cancer reported 13 of 446 women of consanguineous and 37 of 633 of non-consanguineous parents (RR = 0.50, Cl 0.27 – 0.93). Cervical cancer had 15 women in consanguineous and 32 in non-consanguineous group (RR = 0.70, Cl 0.38 – 1.28). Number of families with history of breast cancer in consanguineous and non-consanguineous group was 21 and 23, respectively (P = 0.29). The cancer screening rates and other variable values had fairly balanced distribution between the 2 groups. Having consanguineous parents decreases the risk of breast cancer especially in younger women, risk of cervical cancer being unaffected. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.com
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Change history
16 November 2011
This paper was modified 12 months after initial publication to switch to Creative Commons licence terms, as noted at publication
References
Abdulrazzaq YM, Bener A, Al-Gazali LI, Al-Khayat AI, Micallef R and Gaber T (1997) A study of possible deleterious effects of consanguinity. Clin Genet 51: 167–173
Al Gazali LI, Bener A, Abdulrazzaq YM, Micallef R, Al-Khayat AI and Gaber T (1997) Consanguineous marriages in the United Arab Emirates. J Biosoc Sci 29: 491–497
Alroy I and Yarden Y (1997) The ErbB signaling network in embryogenesis and oncogenesis: signal diversification through combinatorial ligand-receptor interactions. FEBS Lett 410: 83–86
Anonymous (1999) Molecular biology. In Oncology: Medical knowledge self-assessment program, pp 20–51, American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine: Philadelphia
Anonymous (2000) Cancer incidence report Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries 1998. Executive Office for GCC Ministries (draft)
Asha Bai PV, John TJ and Subramaniam VR (1981) Reproductive wastage and developmental disorders in relation to consanguinity in south India. Trop Geogr Med 29: 275–280
Basaran N, Hassa H, Basaran A, Artan S, Stevenson JD and Sayli BS (1989) The effect of consanguinity on the reproductive wastage in the Turkish population. Clin Genet 36: 168–173
Bener A, Denic S and Al-Mazrouei M (2001) Consanguinity and family history of cancer in children with leukemia and lymphomas. Cancer 92: 1–6
Grant JC and Bittles AH (1997) The comparative role of consanguinity in infant and childhood mortality in Pakistan. Ann Hum Genet 61: 143–149
Hakem R, de la Pompa JL and Mak TW (1998) Developmental studies of BRCA1 and BRCA2 knock-out mice. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 3: 431–445
Harper PS (1993) Practical genetic counseling. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd: Oxford
Hussain R (1998) The role of consanguinity and inbreeding as a determinant of spontaneous abortion in Karachi, Pakistan. Ann Hum Genet 62: 147–157
Imaizumi Y (1986) A recent survey of consanguineous marriages in Japan. Clin Genet 30: 230–233
Jaber L, Halpern GJ and Shohat M (1998) The impact of consanguinity worldwide. Commun Genet 1: 12–17
Khlat M (1997) Endogamy in the Arab World. In: Genetic Disorders Among Arab Populations, Teebi AS, Farag TI (ed) pp 63–80, Oxford Monographs on medical genetics. No.30, Oxford University Press: New York
Norusis MJ (1996) SPSS Inc. SPSS/PC + for Windows, Base System and Advanced Statistic User's Guide, Window version 10. Chicago, Illinois
Parkin MD, Pisani P and Ferlay J (1999) Incidence of breast cancer in females by world region. CA: Cancer J Clin 49: 33–64
Pavelic K, Slaus NP and Spaventi R (1991) Growth factors and proto-oncogenes in early mouse embryogenesis and tumorogenesis. Int J Dev Biol 35: 209–214
Saha N, Hamad RE and Mohamed S (1990) Inbreeding effects on reproductive outcomes in a Sudanese population. Hum Hered 40: 208–212
Shah GH (1997) Consanguinity and child mortality: the risk faced by families in Pakistan. http://www.cpc.unc.edu/pubs/paa_papers/1997shah.html
Shami SA, Schmitt LH and Bittles AH (1989) Consanguinity related prenatal and postnatal mortality of the populations of seven Pakistani Punjab cities. J Med Genet 26: 267–271
Stoltenberg C, Magnus P, Skrondal A and Lie RT (1999) Consanguinity and recurrence risk of stillbirth and infant death. Am J Public Health 89: 517–523
Sureender S, Prabakaran B and Khan AG (1998) Mate selection and its impact on female marriage age, pregnancy wastages, and first child survival in Tamil Nadu, India. Soc Biol 45: 289–301
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
About this article
Cite this article
Denic, S., Bener, A. Consanguinity decreases risk of breast cancer – cervical cancer unaffected. Br J Cancer 85, 1675–1679 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.2131
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.2131
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Genetic etiology of hereditary hearing loss in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries
Human Genetics (2022)
-
Implications of ACMG guidelines to identify high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients with hereditary cancer susceptibility syndromes (HCSS) in a highly consanguineous population
BMC Pediatrics (2021)
-
A meta-analysis of consanguinity and breast cancer
Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) (2018)
-
Breast cancer protection by genomic imprinting in close kin families
BMC Medical Genetics (2017)
-
Multiple sclerosis in the Arabian Gulf countries: a consensus statement
Journal of Neurology (2013)