In the Pakistani community, the risk of babies born with birth defects is doubled among first cousins, according to a study, which found that infant mortality rates and birth defects exceeded.
Researchers have concluded that the cultural process of marriage between first cousins is a bigger factor than any other – far more than the effects of deprivation in the parts of Bradford where this study was conducted. Marriage to a blood relative accounts for about one-third (31%) of all birth defects in children of Pakistani descent.
The risk of having a baby, usually from heart or nervous system problems – which can sometimes be fatal – is still small, but in the general Pakistani population it increases from 3% to 6% of blood relatives. The researchers also said that the risk also doubled among children of white British women over the age of 34. This risk has increased from 2% to 4%, it is already known.
Every year more than 90 deaths due to birth defects occur in the Pakistani community in England and Wales. But this is a very sensitive issue because marriage in families is an established cultural tradition of Pakistani descent.
