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Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the occurrence of the risk of offspring having cleft lip and palate in consanguineousmarriagesMethodology: This is a cross sectional study which was done for a period of six months from March 2022to November 2022 at Al-Mustafa Hospital, Karachi. All patients without any syndromes and medically fitwere included and respondents were interviewed using a questionnaire.Results: A total of 278 patients with 129 (46.4%) females and 149 (53.6%) males were included. Fifty one(18.3%) patients had isolated cleft lip, 162 (58.3%) patients had complete cleft, and 65 (23.4%) patients hadisolated cleft palate. Total 158 (56.8%) parents of children had consanguineous marriages, of which 83 (29.9%)were married to paternal side and 76 (27.3%) were married to the maternal side. History of parental cleft wasseen in 9 (3.2%) patients. Among risk factors, 8 (2.9%) mothers had radiation exposure during pregnancy and8 (2.9%) and 2 (0.7%) had habits of huqqa and smoking respectively. Seven (2.5 %) patients weretwins and one was born with cleft either isolated or complete and other without any anomaly.Conclusion: Nearly half of the study population in this study had consanguineous marriages. Strategies shouldbe developed to educate people about association of orofacial clefts with consanguinity along with risk factors.Key Words: Consanguinity, cleft lip, cleft palate, non-syndromic