CONSANGUINITY AND LIPID PROFILE VARIATIONS IN VARIOUS CLANS OF PAKISTANI POPULATION

In Pakistan, consanguinity amongst one?s caste is a social norm. Increased rates of cousin marriages give rise to fatal diseases which are inheritable and can pass from one generation to another. In this regard, since no research has been conducted up till now for analyzing the link between consanguinity and castes, the current study aims at estimating the prevalence of consanguinity in Pakistani population in general and in various clans specifically. In addition, to find the relationship of diabetes, hypertension as well as cardiovascular diseases and lipid profile variation with consanguinity was another major objective of this study. The data was collected randomly from a sample size of 400 participants in four different hospitals and lipid profile parameters were evaluated on the basis of chemical auto-analyzer. The results found that Mughals had the highest percentage (43%) of hypertensive participants while Kashmiri had the highest number of obese participants (14%). Despite having maximum consanguinity in the Pathan clan (88%), diabetes and hypertension was more prevalent in Kashmiris while cardiovascular diseases were more prevalent in the Baloch clan. Secondly, Baloch and Gujjars were found to have abnormal values for various parameters (total cholesterol and triglycerides) of lipid profile clearly revealing presence of CVD and earlier onset of CVD among Baloch and Gujjars.