title: Inbreeding and congenital heart diseases in a north Indian population.
abstract: The study was performed in six mohallahs (colonies) of Aligarh City (North India). All six mohallahs are predominantly inhabited by Qureshi (meat sellers, a highly endogamous group) Muslims. A total of 1721 infants and children up to the age of 6 years were examined to determine the incidence of congenital heart diseases (CHD) in relation to the degree of consanguinity of the parents. Around 43% of the subjects were the offspring of consanguineous marriages including second-cousin, first-cousin-once-removed and first-cousin. A higher percentage of CHD was found in the offspring of consanguineous marriages: about 3.37% out of 741 children as compared to 1.22% in 980 offspring of non-consanguineous marriages, whereas in the first-cousin offspring, the percentage of CHD rose to 4.41%. The differences were found to be statistically significant. The present study suggests a genetic influence and also casts doubt on the applicability of a polygenic threshold model to all forms of cardiac malformation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, India.
authors.lastname: Badaruddoza
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Afzal
authors.lastname: Akhtaruzzaman
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003241:Consanguinity; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007514:Islam