Inbreeding and congenital heart diseases in a North Indian population

The study was performed in six mohallahs (colonies) of Aligarh City (North India). All six mohallahs are predominantly inhabited by Qureshi (meat sellers, a highly endogamous group) Muslims. A total of 1721 infants and children up to the age of 6 years were examined to determine the incidence of congenital heart diseases (CHD) in relation to the degree of consanguinity of the parents. Around 43% of the subjects were the offspring of consanguineous marriages including second-cousin, first-cousin-once-removed and first-cousin. A higher percentage of CHD was found in the offspring of consanguineous marriages: about 3.37% out of 741 children as compared to 1.22% in 980 offspring of non-consanguineous marriages, whereas in the first-cousin offspring, the percentage of CHD rose to 4.41%. The differences were found to be statistically significant. The present study suggests a genetic influence and also casts doubt on the applicability of a polygenic threshold model to all forms of cardiac malformation.