Consanguineous marriages have a high prevalence among Muslim majority countries, and the ratio is increasing in the Saudi population (Husain and Bunyan 1997). Nowadays, more than half of all the marriages in Saudi Arabia are marriages between cousins (El-Hazmi et al. 1995). Different types of consanguineous marriages exist, such as marriage between first cousins, which is the most common one, marriage between second cousins, and marriage between third cousins (El-Hazmi et al. 1995). As a geneticist, you know that consanguinity (inbreeding) increases the likelihood of offspring having deleterious homozygous recessive genotypes such as sickle cell disease. The degree of consanguinity between individuals is measured by the inbreeding coefficient.

1. Use your answers from 1(d) to calculate the inbreeding coefficient (F) of your population (Show your work)

2. Does the inbreeding coefficient indicate inbreeding or outbreeding within your population? How can you tell based on F?

3. After analyzing your initial results, you decide to conduct a posteriori exploratory analysis. You find out that 75% of the homozygous recessive individuals in your population are between the ages of 1-20 years old. What might this tell you about the epidemiology and impact of sickle cell disease within the population? As a genetic counsellor that works at the biggest hospital in Khobar, how might your plan of action to decrease sickle cell-related mortality be affected by your findings?