To the Editor: Dr Elders and Ms
Albert1 pointed out the alarming rate of abuse among
pregnant 15-year-olds, usually by predatory older boyfriends. A few
predators, however, include older blood relatives of the girls,
including uncles, fathers, grandfathers, and brothers.2
We have studied children and their mothers in the course of
performing paternity tests for various child support agencies. An
analysis of our data showed that consanguineous parentage could be
suspected when a mother was aged 19 years or younger, a child was HLA
homozygous or had an HLA phenotype that was identical to the mother's,
and a falsely accused man was exonerated (by tests of other locus
polymorphisms). We estimated that as many as 1% to 2% of offspring of
disputed parentage cases may have been the result of consanguineous
matings.3 In the United States, the prevalence of
incestuous abusive behavior is estimated at 0.8% to
2.0%.4 Findings in our genetic study and studies using
questionnaires are mutually supportive. There is evidence that a higher
proportion of teen pregnancies are the result of consanguineous
matings.3