The comparative role of consanguinity in infant and childhood mortality in Pakistan

As part of the 1990/1991 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, data were collected on the outcome of 26,408 births to 6,611 women, with mortality rates investigated at specific age intervals during the first 5 years of life. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to examine the comparative roles of consanguineous marriage and a number of demographic and socioeconomic factors, including the sex of the child, maternal age, maternal education, birth interval and birth order, as determinants of early death. The results indicate that, even after controlling for these non-genetic variables, inbreeding at the level of first cousin exerted a significant adverse effect on survival in four of the five age intervals examined, neonatal, post-neonatal, infant and under 5 years.