HGM 2011 - Dubai, UAE
Lihadh Al-Gazali - Abstract
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Lihadh Al-Ghazali
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The United Arab Emirates local inhabitants are tribal in nature with diverse ancestries including Arabs from the south and north of the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, Baluchistan and East Africa. However, about 80% of the current 5 million inhabitants are expatriates from the Asian subcontinent and from Arab and Middle Eastern and European countries. Despite this admixture of populations, intermarriages between these groups are still rare with consanguineous marriages within the UAE local and other Arab and Muslim populations are still the norm leading to the formation of population isolates and indeed the appearance of rare genetic disorders. According to the UAE Ministry of Health Statistics, genetic disorders are the fourth cause of the death in the UAE. In addition, the UAE is currently ranked 6th out of 193 countries in terms of prevalence of birth defects, mainly due to genetic causes. The epidemiology of these birth defects is especially complicated due to the fact that many families and tribal groups have descended from a limited number of main ancestors and the disease genes reflect the sample carried by the founding members. Therefore, while some birth defects are common throughout the population, others are confined to specific villages, families and tribal groups leading to unusual genetic burden on these communities. In addition, there are many birth defects which are unique to this population. Over the last 20 years we have been involved in research into the elucidation of the underlying molecular defects of these conditions. Here we present our experience in identifying the molecular basis of birth defects prevalent in this population. |
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Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum |
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Human Genome Organisation |
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Centre for Arab Genomic Studies |
