The Effect of Consanguinity on Pregnancy Outcome in Saudi Arabia

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 com prised 31.4% of first cousins and 22.9% of other relatives. The average proportion of outcome was higher and over 50% within the consanguinous mar riages in all pregnancy outcome except prematurity and low birth weights. In general, more unfavourable outcomes occurred among consanguinous than non-consanguinous mar riages. Perinatal, infant and neonatal deaths were the most deleterious outcomes among related marriages with 62%, 60.3% and 57.9% respectively. The differ ences between total consanguinity and unrelated mar riages in the infant and perinatal death categories were significant (P=0.05).