Health awareness and consequences of consanguineous marriages: a community-based study.
OBJECTIVE
This community-based study was done to assess the awareness of people regarding the ill effects of consanguinity and to observe its association with various sociodemographic variables and complications among children.


METHODS
Houses were chosen by systematic random sampling method and any married person in each household was interviewed.


RESULTS
Only 35 (18.7%) out of 187 participants were aware of health hazards associated with consanguineous marriages. The prevalence of consanguineous marriages was found to be 23 (12.3%). History of consanguineous marriage was seen significantly more among illiterates (P = .05) and respondents with parental history of consanguinity (P < .001). The mean age at marriage was found to be significantly lower among women married consanguineously (P = .05). Congenital anomalies (P = .02) and low birth weight (P = .05) was seen significantly more among children with parental history of consanguinity.


CONCLUSIONS
Large-scale awareness campaigns are needed to address the ill effects of this seemingly innocuous cultural practice.
Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore, India drnitinjoseph@gmail.com.
Nitin
N
Joseph
Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore, India.
K Keshava
KK
Pavan
Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore, India.
Keerthan
K
Ganapathi
Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore, India.
P
P
Apoorva
Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore, India.
Parul
P
Sharma
Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore, India.
Jai Aditya
JA
Jhamb
D000328:Adult; D003241:Consanguinity; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
awareness; congenital anomalies; consanguineous marriages; health hazards; prevalence