Consanguinity and Inbreeding Effects on Fertility and Mortality Among Malas of Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh

Effects of consanguineous marriage on reproductive behaviour, adverse pregnancy outcomes and offspring mortality in Oman

“…Research findings regarding the effects of consanguineous marriage on fertility are also mixed, with some studies showing reduced fertility among the couples with consanguineous marriages (Reid 1976;Ansari and Sinha 1978), while others report significantly higher levels of fertility among consanguineous couples (Schull et al 1970;Philippe 1974;Reddy and Rao 1978;Rao and Inbaraj 1979;Bittles et al 1991Bittles et al , 2002; while no significant pattern is observed in many instances (Tanner 1958;Devi et al 1981;Reddy 1983;Hann 1985;Al-Awadi et al 1986). The inconsistency in the results of the above-mentioned studies may be attributed to methodological flaws, namely small sample size and poor allowance for potential confounders.…”

“…However, the results are divergent. Many studies have demonstrated that consanguineous marriages are associated with higher risk of autosomal recessive diseases and congenital malformations, mental retardation, higher pre-reproductive deaths, low birth weight and higher postnatal mortality among offspring (Khoury et al 1987;Khlat 1988;Bittles and Neel 1994;Bundey and Alam 1995;Stoltenberg et al 1999;Mokhtar and Abdel-Fattah 2001;Bener and Hussain 2006;Saadat 2007;Assaf et al 2008), whilst others fail to discover any association (Rao and Inbaraj 1977;Devi et al 1981;Reddy 1983;Al-Awadi et al 1986;Mumtaz et al 2007;Bittles and Black 2010;Gowri et al 2011).…”

The Health Consequences of Consanguineous Marriage in Kuwait

“…In other words, some diseases may appear as a result of an increase in the frequency of homozygotes with regard to certain rare recessive alleles. 1 Of the many studies that have been conducted in Arabic and Middle Eastern societies, some have focused on the relationship between consanguinity and fertility and mortality (Bittles et al 1993;Reddy 1983;Tuncbilek 2001;Tuncbilek and Koc 1994;Yasim et al 1997), while others have concentrated on the effect of consanguineous mating on anthropometric measurements of infants and newborns (Basaran et al 1994;Khlat 1989;Saedi-Wong and Al-Frayh 1989). Hearing loss and blindness are other concerns of research (Elder and De Cock 1993;Zakzouk et al 1995).…”

Is Consanguinity an Impediment to Improving Human Development Outcomes?

“…Saedi-Wong, Al-Frayh and Wong (1989) find that, in Saudi Arabia there are higher rates of marriage to a close relative in rural areas and among the poor. In addition, among the Reddis of Chittoor District in South India, Rami and Reddy (1979) show that marriage to a close family member is higher among landowning families. 5…”