The Effect of Consanguinity on Pregnancy Outcome in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

A simple random sample of 4498 Saudi pregnant women was analysed to study the effect of consanguinity on pregnancy outcome. The rate of consanguinity was found to be 54.3% which comprised 31.4% of first cousins and 22.9% of other relatives. The average proportion of outcome was higher and over 50% within the consanguinous marriages in all pregnancy outcome except prematurity and low birth weights. In general, more unfavourable outcomes occurred among consanguinous than non-consanguinous marriages. Perinatal, infant and neonatal deaths were the most deleterious outcomes among related marriages with 62%, 60.3% and 57.9% respectively. The differences between total consanguinity and unrelated marriages in the infant and perinatal death categories were significant (P = 0.05).