Should my partner and my partner do genetic tests before planning a baby? I am in a relationship with my distant cousin (the common ancestor is my great-grandfather, my grandmother and my partner's grandmother were natural sisters), we live in the countryside and, as it happens in such small towns, people treat our relationship a bit strange. Most of the neighbors tolerate us, but her family does not. My family sees no problem and accepts us. Her parents claim that our offspring will be genetically ill, or there will be something wrong with them, because they consider us to be a close family. I would like to add that our family has never had any genetically determined diseases. I did an interview with all my cousins and there were no genetic diseases, all the way to my great-grandparents, the common ancestor of my relationship. In such a situation, is it possible that our offspring will be he althy, or is there a risk that they will be born with genetic defects? Can we have children?
I know from experience that in your situation nothing can replace a personal conversation with a specialist doctor - a clinical geneticist. Your stress level is very high, which is probably most influenced by the attitude of those around you. However, you must approach your relationship in a rational way and seek genetic counseling, in which you will have the opportunity to receive specific answers to questions about the level of risk of having a child with he alth and / or development problems. However, in order to make a RELIABLE assessment of such a risk, several factors must be taken into account.
During the conversation with the geneticist, a pedigree tree will be constructed covering as many generations as possible and people in each generation, taking into account the presence of any other relationships between relatives, and a thorough interview will be carried out on various he alth issues in the family.
It is worth mentioning that the risk of having a child with a serious congenital defect (e.g. heart) or genetic disease for unrelated couples is around 2%, which means that such a problem affects one in fifty pairs of parents.
In the case of a cousin, the risk is about twice as high, i.e. 4%. However, the further the relationship continues, the more the risk lowers, and yes, for a couple who are childrenof a great-uncle, the risk is around 3%. In the case of a related couple, the risk of having a child with an autosomal recessive genetic disorder (if both parents are he althy carriers of a mutation in the same gene) is particularly increased.
Cystic fibrosis is the most common disease inherited this way in Poland. Relationships between relatives are relatively rare in Poland and probably for this reason they arouse much controversy. However, it should be remembered that in many countries, e.g. the Middle East or South Asia, relationships between relatives (usually cousins) are made even more often than between unrelated people.
In order to obtain genetic advice, I invite you and your wife for a personal visit to the clinic.
Remember that our expert's answer is informative and will not replace a visit to the doctor.
Krystyna SpodarKrystyna Spodar - specialist in the field of clinical genetics at NZOZ Genomed, ul. Ponczowa 12, 02-971 Warsaw, www.nzoz.genomed.pl, e-mail: [email protected]
The expert answers questions about genetic diseases and congenital malformations, inheritance, and prenatal diagnosis.
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