A sample of 53,552 nonmalformed liveborn infants was ascertained by the Latin-American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations between 1967 and 1996. The mean consanguinity rate was 0.96%, with significantly higher values in Brazil and Venezuela, and lower in Argentina. Low paternal education and occupation levels were positively associated with consanguinity. First-cousin matings repre...

In the last decade, the Costa Rican Central Valley population (CRCV), has received considerable scientific attention, attributed in part to a particularly interesting population structure. Two different and contradictory explanations have emerged: (1) An European-Amerindian-African admixed population, with some regional genetic heterocigosity and moderate degrees of consanguinity, similar to ot...

Consanguinity ("blood relation", from the Latin consanguinitas ) is the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that aspect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person. Consanguineous marriage is frequent in many populations. In fact, it has been recently estimated that consanguineous couples and their progeny suppose about 10....