Abstract

Previous genetic and public health research in the Pakistani population has focused on the role of consanguinity in increasing recessive disease risk, but little is known about its recent population history, the effects of endogamy, or effects of consanguinity on complex disease risk.

I will first describe work we have done elucidating fine-scale population structure, history and consanguinity patterns using genotype chip data from 2,200 British Pakistanis from the Born in Bradford cohort. I will then present recent results demonstrating an effect of consanguinity on risk of several common diseases including type 2 diabetes, PTSD and asthma, in three large cohorts (Genes & Health, comprising 50k British Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, UK Biobank, and 23andMe), including a new approach to deal with confounding.