Consanguinity: A risk factor for adverse birth outcomes

Background & Objective: Marriages between close blood relations are extensively researched as being a risk factor for new borne but this aspect of research has not been done in our setup. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of consanguinity on birth come. Methods: A comparative cross sectional study was conducted on 356 new borne delivered in various hospitals by filling a pre designed questionnaire. Intra uterine deaths, premature births & low Apgar score at birth were the selected variables for the study. The results were compiled through bivariate & logistic regression analysis. Results: Among 203 new bornes of consanguineous parents, highest number was recorded for first cousins i.e. 99 (48.8%). In all, twenty four (6.7%) died intra utero, 38 (10.7%) were the premature, 64 (17.9%) had APGAR ≤ 6 at birth; five (1.4%) had no improvement at 5 minutes. Mean gestational age in consanguineous new borne was recorded as 38.15 ± 1.81 weeks as compared to 38.68 ± 1.11 weeks in non-consanguineous. Lowest gestational age at birth was observed among new bornes of uncle-niece relation i.e. 37.76 ± 2.02 weeks. Strong association was seen between consanguineous status & adverse birth outcome (p= 0.02); parental inbreeding revealed even more strong association (p=0.00). The odds of adverse birth oucome for consanguinity after incorporating other possible covariates, was 1.84 (95% CI= 1.56 - 8.905; p= 0.02). Interpretation & Conclusion: Parental consanguinity is a risk factor for undesired birth outcome; however more rigorous studies with a large sample size separately incorporating adverse effects will be more conclusive.