The effects of inbreeding on Japanese children

Abstract

many Japanese medical scientists and statisticians. The material is organized into 15 chapters. The first gives the general background. The second describes the situation of consanguineous marriages in Japan. The third outlines the statistical methods employed in the analysis. This is then followed by ten data chapters on the characteristics of the consanguinity group, mortality of the inbred infants and children, medical histories, physical disease, anthropometrics, growth and development, dental characteristics, laboratory studies, neuromuscular and mental status, and performance in elementary school. The 14th chapter summarizes the differences between an average inbred and an outbred child. The final chapter discusses the relationship of the inbreeding results with the so-called genetic load. Two major statistical methods (exponit and logistic) have been employed, especially with the mor¬ tality data. The authors note that the results of these two methods