Consanguinity and early mortality in the Muslim populations of India and Pakistan.

Abstract

Empirical information from studies conducted in Pakistan has indicated a high level of offspring mortality that can be attributed to parental consanguinity even when non-biological variables are controlled. However, with the exception of some small and geographically restricted studies, few comparable data are available on the influence of inbreeding in child survival among the Muslim population of India, which numbers between 100 and 120 million. The present study compares deaths during the first 5 years of life among the offspring of first cousin (F = 0.0625) and non-consanguineous unions (F = 0), using data collected in the 1992-1993 Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and the 199..