Sensorineural Hearing Loss seen in Siblings of Consanguineous Marriages at Multan

Aim: To identify the role of consanguinity in the appearance of deafness in children of consanguineously married couples. Materials & methods: This retrospective, record based, survey type study was carried out during April-July, 2007. We completed a questionnaire for each student after interviewing the student and the parent or guardian. We also consulted the record at the school. The data was analyzed to see the frequency of consanguinity among parents of hearing impaired children. Results: It was seen that 65.60% parents of children with congenital sensorineural deafness, were first cousins; 15.20% parents were second cousins and 19.20% of parents were not related to each other. A high percentage (63.20%) of the participants had some other member of the family having the same type of hearing abnormality. Conclusion: Consanguineous marriages seem to be associated with higher incidence of sensorineural hearing loss among their siblings.