A Study of the Marriage Structure in Populations of Azerbaijan and the Pamir: Medical and Genetic Aspects

The article presents the results of a study on the structure of marriages in populations of Azerbaijan and the Pamirs. A comparative analysis of reproduction parameters in consanguineous and non-consanguineous marriages is provided. In the village of Abdal, Agdam district, Azerbaijan, 109 consanguineous marriages were identified (27.5% of the total number of marriages), with a genealogical inbreeding coefficient of F = 5.9%. Among the Rushan people of the village of Pastkhuf, Rushan district, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, Tajikistan, located at an altitude of 2000 m above sea level, 16 out of 102 families were consanguineous. The inbreeding coefficient was

F = 5.9%. In Khuf (altitude 3000 m), 30 out of 101 families were consanguineous, with F = 5.4%. In Murghab, Murghab district, GornoBadakhshan Autonomous Oblast, Tajikistan (altitude 3800 m – 4200 m), 8 out of 179 Kyrgyz families were inbred, corresponding to an inbreeding value of F = 0.56%. In all studied populations, a similar trend was observed in families that had completed reproduction. In the post-reproductive age cohorts of women, the average number of births and the number of living children per woman were significantly higher in consanguineous marriages (p < 0.05) than in non-consanguineous marriages. In the population of Abdal, inbred families showed a pattern of increased birth rate, a higher average number of children, and a comparatively higher level of reproductive losses. The totality of the presented information allows us to conclude that the role of inbreeding in human populations is complex and ambiguous; the net effect on reproductive processes in a population depends on the simultaneous action of opposing tendencies and their interrelationship.

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