Parental consanguinity among patients with schizophrenia in a rural community of South India: A clinical and genetic investigation.

Background: Studies from certain regions of the world indicate that consanguineous marriages are a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia in offspring. However the evidence is inconsistent partly due to methodological limitation of which hospital based recruitment contributing to significant bias. The studies from the Indian subcontinent, is scarce, where rates of consanguinity is high.