title: Consanguinity ratio in b-thalassemia major patients in District Bannu.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the frequency of consanguinity in b-thalassemia major patients and its association with age, gender and hepatitis C virus antibody positivity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2013 to July 2014 at various hospitals of district Bannu in the North Western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Data was recorded on a predesigned questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 180 subjects, 133(74%) parents were cousins, while 47(26%) were unrelated. The frequency of anti-hepatitis C virus antibody positivity was 14(7.77%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High prevalence of the disease in the study region was due to consanguineous marriages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Science and Technology, KPK, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Sadiq
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Science and Technology, KPK, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Mushtaq
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Science and Technology, KPK, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Rahmat Ali
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Science and Technology, KPK, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mushtaq
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Science and Technology, KPK, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wasim Ullah Shah
mesh_terms: D003241:Consanguinity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D010154:Pakistan; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies
keywords: Beta Thalassemia Major, Hepatitis C, Consanguinity, Bannu.