Consanguinity and Genetic Risk

What is consanguinity?

Consanguinity refers to relationships between blood relatives e.g. first cousins.

What are the health risks associated with consanguinity?

Each parent passes on one copy of their genes to their children.  Most people carry one or two gene variants for a recessive disorder but remain unaffected.  If a couple are blood relatives, there is a greater chance that both will carry a recessive gene linked to a birth disorder or health problem that a baby has from birth.

The RSCP seeks to raise awareness of this issue in order to reduce the incidence of related disabilities.

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