English

Abstract

Marriage in Indian society is a religious duty. Consanguineous marriage has been a long standing habit among many Indian families. Many studies have suggested a strong association between consanguineous marriages and the incidence of autosomal recessive diseases and congenital anomalies. According to studies 30-40% of the marriages in Andhra Pradesh are consanguineous. Recently the awareness of consequences of consanguineous marriages among the educated families has led to change in attitudes of many people about this age old practice of interbreeding in the traditional Indian society. OBJECTIVES: This study is aimed at determining at the prevalence of consanguineous marriages, type of consanguinity and the prevalence of congenital anomalies among offspring of consanguineous and non-consanguineous parents and also to study the effect of consanguinity on foetal loss and neonatal morbidity and mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective longitudinal hospital based study conducted at the Government General Hospital (GGH), Guntur, A. P over a period of 2months from July to August 2012. We screened 1025 babies delivered in the obstetrics dept for malformations and relevant demographic and obstetric data was obtained from the parents. Infants with congenital anomalies of Indian nationality were included in the study. Babies of mothers having history of hereditary diseases, sexually transmitted diseases and exposure to drugs were excluded from the study. Institutional ethics committee approval was obtained. Out of 1025 infants screened, 200 babies had malformations. RESULTS: Malformed babies were noted in 33.8% of consanguineous marriages versus 15.1 % in controls (Non- consanguineous marriages) with P value of 0.0000001 which is statistically significant. 2, 70, 000 newborns die during the first 28 days of life every year from congenital anomalies. In one study,2 the prevalence of CM was 3% for single major anomaly and 0.7% for multiple major anomalies and it has also been shown that 12.3-32% of deaths that have occurred during the perinatal period are related to congenital anomalies. Treatment and rehabilitation of children with most of the CM is costly and complete recovery is usually impossible. 3 While infections and