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

Empirical information from studies conducted in Pakistan has indicated a hi gh level of offspring mortality that can be attributed to parental consangu inity even when non-biological variables are controlled. However, with the exception of some small and geographically restricted studies, few comparab le data are available on the influence of inbreeding in child survival amon g 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 nonconsanguineous unions (F = 0), using data collected in the 1992-1993 Indian National Family Health S urvey (NFHS) and the 1990-1991 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS ). The focus was on determinants of mortality in live-born children to age 5 years. In both countries, bivariate analyses indicated that mortality was significantly increased in the offspring of first cousin unions during the neonatal and post-neonatal, total infant, and under-5 year periods. The fi ndings were confirmed by multivariate regression, which incorporated contro l for a range of biological and demographic factors. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, I nc.