The study found that there was a greater chance of other relatives being affected in the
consanguineous group as opposed to the non-consanguineous group (29.7 per cent versus 15.3 per cent).
There were studies that showed that more spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, neonatal and infant deaths, childhood deaths, and more congenital disorders occurred because of
consanguineous marriages than of nonconsanguineous marriages even though some studies showed contradictory results.
Among the
consanguineous marriage, 24(49.0%) causes of infant deaths were congenital abnormalities and syndromes and congenital heart diseases.
Exome sequencing of Pakistani
consanguineous families identifies 30 novel candidate genes for recessive intellectual disability.
The higher proportion of partial androgen insensitivity syn-drome (PAIS)/5[alpha]-reductase deficiency in the preset study may be due to high rate of
consanguineous marriages in this study population, and it showed comparative results of previous studies.10,19-21
There were 7261 new-borns from non-consanguineous parents and 2362 (24.5%) babies from
consanguineous marriages.
Professor Stylianos Antonarakis said, "In our attempts to uncover new recessive genetic disorders, we looked at families where there was
consanguineous marriage and where both parents carried one copy the mutant gene and passed it on to the child."
Approximately 40% of all the marriages in the Middle East and South Asian countries are
consanguineous.2 According to a report, about 82.5% of Pakistani parents are blood relatives due to economic, social and cultural reasons in different regions of Pakistan.3 Several studies carried out from different regions of Pakistan such as Bhimber district of Mirpur division (AJK), Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) showed 62%, 56.72%, 58.46%, 58.3% and 22.34%
consanguineous marriages respectively.4-8
The researchers found that 0.2 percent of the individuals were born to
consanguineous parents.
Pakistan is one among those countries which has alarming rate of
consanguineous marriages, especially first cousin unions.3 However, within Pakistan, Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa, including D.I.Khan division has comparatively high ratio of close familial marriages.
He was the 3rd child of
consanguineous parents (first degree cousins).
Interestingly, she said, majority of such and other genetic causes of monogenic obesity were reported from cohort of Pakistani origin -- identifying genetic basis of severe obesity in children from
consanguineous population.
