Case Report on Consanguineous Marriage

Marriage in Indian society is a religious duty. Consanguineous marriage is common, where individuals prefer to marry within their clan. Traditionally, some cultures have practiced and continue to practice marriage between relatives such as cousins, as a means of strengthening family ties and retaining property within the family. In India, the recent estimation of consanguinity rates vary from as low as 1- 4 % in the northern region to as high as 40-50 % in the southern region. In comparison to a non-consanguineous couple, consanguineous are more likely to have marriage, at early age. Consanguineous unions range from cousin-cousin to more distant relatedness, and their prevalence varies by culture. Consanguinity has been known to increase the chance of the husband and wife carrying an identical gene derived from a common ancestor. Children of such a marriage, therefore, are at greater risk of being homozygous for a harmful gene and consequently suffer autosomal recessive genetic disorders1. Pregnancy wastage has also been found to be high for women marrying close relatives1. Higher rates of birth, rates of abortion, postnatal mortality, congenital malformations and genetic disorder are evident among consanguineous couple.