Impact of Consanguineous Marriage on Hearing and Language Disorders: Study Among a Group of Egyptian Children.

Background: Even though various research has demonstrated the connection between consanguinity and health issues, consanguineous marriage still common in Egypt with high prevalence rate 35.3%, 23.5% in semi-urban and 17.7% in urban areas.

Methods: This study was conducted on 434 native Arabic-speaking Egyptians children (3-10 years) who visited Special Needs Clinic at National Research Centre, among one year presenting with a hearing or /and language problem. They were subjected to psychometric assessment, Conners' Parent Rating Scales-Revised, Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised, Childhood Autism Rating Scale, audiological assessment, and Arabic Preschool Language Scale-4. Participants were classified into 6 subgroups according to the cause of language delay. We estimated the frequency and degree of consanguinity in each group and the association between consanguinity and hearing and language problems.

Results: The prevalence of the consanguineous marriage in all participants (n=434) was 31.6 % with the mean inbreeding coefficient of 0.01208. First cousins' marriages were the most common type of consanguineous marriages (50.3% of consanguineous marriages). Among all participants in the 6 subgroups (n =434), language delay secondary to cognitive delay showed the highest percentage of consanguineous marriages (35%) followed by autism spectrum disorder (32.8%). No significant association between consanguinity and language problems. Among the 78 participants with sensorineural hearing loss, 35.9% of consanguineous couples (no.= 28 cases) were reported versus 64.1 % of non-consanguineous couples (no.= 50 cases).

Conclusions: The Frequency of consanguineous marriages in our participants was 31.6 % which was close to that reported in Egyptian population. Absence of significant association between consanguinity and language problems warrants further investigation and point to the role of genetic - environment interplay in cases of language delay.