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In many species, the offspring of related parents suffer reduced reproductive success, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. In humans, the importance of this effect has remained unclear, partly because reproduction between close relatives is both rare and frequently associated with confounding social factors. Here, using genomic inbreeding coefficients (FROH) for >1.4 million individuals, we show that FROH is significantly associated (p ROH equivalent to the offspring of first cousins is associated with a 55% decrease [95% CI 44-66%] in the odds of having children. Finally, the effects of FROH are confirmed within full-sibling pairs, where the variation in FROH is independent of all environmental confounding.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/s41467-019-12283-6

Type

Journal article

Journal

Nature communications

Publication Date

10/2019

Volume

10

Addresses

Centre for Global Health Research, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, Scotland.

Keywords

Humans, Body Size, Risk-Taking, Cognition, Health Status, Consanguinity, Fertility, Haplotypes, Homozygote, Alleles, Inbreeding Depression