Consanguineous Marriages: Effects on Pregnancy Outcomes in Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59926/jodprp.vol02/06Keywords:
Consanguineous, fertility, abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, Multinomial Logistic Regression, PakistanAbstract
Being a traditional and close-knit society, Pakistan has a substantial portion of the population who have consanguineous marriages. The purpose of this study is to investigate the socioeconomic and demographic factors behind consanguineous marriages and their effects on pregnancy outcomes. Secondary data of 13,558 married women, as provided in the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (2012-13), was utilised to conduct this research. The results demonstrate that women who are poor, uneducated and belong to the least developed regions of the country, are significantly more likely to be in consanguineous marriages. There is a higher prevalence of miscarriages, abortions and stillbirths in such marriages as compared to non-consanguineous ones. Therefore, there is a need to create public awareness on the adverse health impacts of consanguineous marriages.
The scope of this article is related to the following SDG / SDGs.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Afzal, M. Ali, S. M. Siyal, H. B. and Hakim, A. 1994, ‘Consanguineous Marriages in Pakistan [with Comments]’, The Pakistan Development Review, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 663-676,
<http://www.portmir.org.uk/assets/pdfs/consanguineous-marriages-in-pakistan.pdf>.
Ahmad, B. Rehman, A.U. and Malik, S. 2016, ‘Consanguinity and Inbreeding Coefficient in Tribal Pashtuns Inhabiting the Turbulent and War-Affected Territory of Bajaur Agency, North-West Pakistan’, Journal of Biosocial Science, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 113-128, DOI:10.1017/S0021932014000558.
Alper, Ö. M. Erengin, H. Manguoğlu, A. E. Bilgen, T. Cetin, Z. Dedeoğlu, N. and Lüleci, G. 2004, ‘Consanguineous Marriages in the Province of Antalya, Turkey’, Annales de Génétique, vol. 47, no. 2, April-June, pp. 129-138, <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003399503000716>.
Assaf, S. and Khawaja, M. 2009, ‘Consanguinity Trends and Correlates in the Palestinian Territories’, Journal of Biosocial Science, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 107-124.
Aziz, A. and Manzoor, R. 2016, ‘Correlates of Pregnancy Wastage in Pakistan-An Insight of PDHS 2013-14’, in Ahmad, M. Ali, S.M. and Muhammad, F. (eds.), Women Well-being and Child Health: An In-depth Analysis of Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey Data 2012-13, vol. 1, pp. 47-57, Islamabad: National Institute of Population Studies, <http://nips.org.pk/abstract_files/Indepth%20Analysis%20of%20PDHS%202012-13.pdf>.
Bennett, R.L. Motulsky A.G. Bittles, A. Hudgins, L. and Uhrich, S. et al. 2002, ‘Genetic Counseling and Screening of Consanguineous Couples and their Offspring:
Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors’, Journal of Genetic Counseling, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 97–119, DOI: 10.1023/A:1014593404915.
Bittles, A. H. 2002, ‘Endogamy, Consanguinity and Community Genetics’, Journal of
Genetics, vol. 81, no. 3, pp. 91-98, <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7404668_Endogamy_consanguinity_and_community_genetics>.
Bokhari, N. Gillani, S. Khalil, G. H. K. and Akhtar, S. 2015, ‘Reproductive Health Effects of Consanguineous Marriages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’, Journal of Medical Sciences, January, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 17-20,
<https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4b5f/79f4606d9e0e072872af51e9d012c9873042.pdf>.
Hamamy, H. 2012, ‘Consanguineous Marriages’, Journal of Community Genetics, vol.3, no.3, pp.185-192.
Hosmer Jr. D. W. Lemeshow, S. and Sturdivant, R. X. 2013, Applied Logistic Regression, vol. 398, New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Hussain, R. 1999, ‘Community Perceptions of Reasons for Preference for Consanguineous Marriages in Pakistan’, Journal of Biosocial Science, vol. 31, no.4, pp.449-461, <https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com.pk/&httpsredir=1&article=1042&context=hbspapers>.
Koc, I. 2008, ‘Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Correlates of Consanguineous Marriages in Turkey,’ Journal of Biosocial Science, vol.40, no. 1, pp.137-148.
Kuntla, S. Goli, S. Sekher, T. V. and Doshi, R. 2013, ‘Consanguineous Marriages and their Effects on Pregnancy Outcomes in India’, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 33, nos. 7/8, pp. 437-452, doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-11-2012-0103.
Mokhtar, M. M. and Abdel-Fattah, M. M. 2001, ‘Consanguinity and Advanced Maternal Age as Risk Factors for Reproductive Losses in Alexandria, Egypt’, European Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 559-565.
Naibkhil, N., and Chitkara, E. 2016, ‘Consanguineous Marriages Increase Risk of Congenital Anomalies-Studies in Four Generation of an Afghan Family’, Biomedical Research, vo. 27, no. 1, pp. 34-39,
NIPS and ICF International 2013, ‘Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012-13’, Islamabad and Maryland: National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS) and ICF International,
<https://www.nips.org.pk/abstract_files/PDHS%20Final%20Report%20as%20of%20Jan%2022-2014.pdf>.
Omer, S. Farooq, S. and Jabeen, S. 2016, ‘Effects of Cousin Marriages on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes among Women in Pakistan: A Secondary Analysis of Data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012-13’, Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies: Alam-e-Niswan, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 65-76.
Pellissier, H. 2012, ‘Cousin Marriage-70% in Pakistan-Should it be Prohibited?’ [Online], Boston: Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, <https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET2/more/pellissier20120526>, accessed 17 October 2018.
Riaz, H. F. Mannan, S. and Malik, S. 2016, ‘Consanguinity and its Socio-Biological Parameters in Rahim Yar Khan District, Southern Punjab, Pakistan’, Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, vol. 35, no. 1, p.1, <http://jhpn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41043-016-0049-x>, accessed 18 October 2018.
Saleem, M. Shankar, K. and Sabeetha, K. 2016, ‘A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study on Consanguineous Marriages in Rural Tamil Nadu, India’, International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 730-734,
<http://www.scopemed.org/?mno=209112>, accessed 20 October 2018.
Shami, S. A. Grant, J. C. and Bittles, A. H. 1994, ‘Consanguineous Marriage within Social/Occupational Class Boundaries in Pakistan’, Journal of Biosocial Science, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 91-96.
Shamshad, S. Priyadarsini, A. I. and Shameela, S. 2016, ‘Role of Consanguinity and Maternal Age on the Rate of Abortions’, International Journal of Scientific Research, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 590-592.
Sines, E. Syed, U. Wall, S. and Worley, H. 2007, ‘Postnatal Care: A Critical Opportunity to Save Mothers and New Borns,’ January, Policy Perspectives on Newborn Health, Washington, D.C.: Save the Children and Population Reference Bureau, pp. 1-7, <https://www.prb.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/SNL_PNCBriefFinal.pdf>.
Sthanadar, A. A. Bittles, A. H. and Zahid, M. 2016, ‘Increasing Prevalence of Consanguineous Marriage confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province’, Journal of Biosocial Science, vol. 48, no.3, pp. 418-420, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26075505>.
Stoltenberg, C. Magnus, P. Skrondal, A. and Lie, R. T. 1999, ‘Consanguinity and Recurrence Risk of
Stillbirth and Infant Death’, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 517-523,
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1508879/pdf/amjph00004-0051.pdf>.
Subramanian, S.V. Ackerson, L. K. Subramanyam, M. A. and Sivaramakrishnan, K. 2008, ‘Health inequalities in India: The Axes of Stratification’, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 127-138,
<https://www.brown.edu/initiatives/journal-world-affairs/sites/brown.edu.initiatives.journal-world affairs/files/private/articles/14.2_Subramanian.pdf>.
Tadmouri, G. O. Nair, P. Obeid, T. Al Ali, M. T. Al Khaja, N. and Hamamy, H. A. 2009, ‘Consanguinity and Reproductive Health among Arabs’, Reproductive Health, vol. 6, no. 17,<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2765422/pdf/1742-4755-6-17.pdf>.
Ullah, I. 2015, ‘Deformities in Charsadha: Cousin Marriages and the Heavy Price Children Pay’, Dawn, 15 October, <http://www.dawn.com/news/1212811>, accessed 8 July 2016.
Ullah, M.A. Hussain, A.M. and Mahmood, S.U. 2018, ‘Consanguineous Marriages and their Detrimental Outcomes in Pakistan: An Urgent Need for Appropriate Measures’, International Journal of Community Medicines and Public Health, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-3.
Younis, M. Sasikala, K. Anand, A. V. Iqbal, J. Kailash, S. and Hura, M. U. D. 2018, ‘Genetic Analysis, Health Issues and Consanguineous Marriage in Muslim Community’, International Journal of Scientific Research in Science & Technology, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 100-107, <http://ijsrst.com/IJSRST184126>.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Rabia Manzoor, Waqas Imran, Abbas Murtaza Maken, Tehreem Hasan Syed
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
