Arranged marriage, consanguinity and epilepsy

Arranged marriage is where parents choose marital partners for their children. It is a norm in many parts of Asia and Middle East. A marriage is said to be consanguineous where the marriages are solemnized among persons with close biological relations. There is considerable overlap in arranged and consanguineous marriages with many cultures adopting both practices. Recent studies showed that there is significantly higher rate of consanguinity of parents of epilepsy patients. There is also significantly higher rate of epilepsy among family members with consanguineous marriage for both cryptogenic and idiopathic epilepsies. ARRANGED MARRIAGE Arranged marriage is defined as one where parents choose marital partners for their children and arranged marriage is a norm in many parts of Asia, Africa and Middle East On the other hand non arranged marriages are common in the Western part of the world. In the modern world there is co-existence of both types of marriage system. The total world population is around 6.5 billion, and 3.7 billions (60%) live in Asia. On the other hand, Oceania region comprising o