Congenital anomalies and consanguineous marriage

Consanguineous marriage is one of the most important etiology of morbidity and anomaly in neonates and children, for which annually thousands of neonates and children sacrifice. This study was performed in Shabihkhani hospital in Kashan to determine the prevalence of congenital anomalies among consanguineous marriages. All neonates born in Shabihkhani hospital in 2000-01 were included and initial data including sex, gestational age, type of delivery, prenatal care, drug history, special disease in mother, type of anomaly, history of still birth or anomaly in previous pregnancy were recorded. Type of anomaly in the first 24 hours was distinguished for further classification. Paraclinic tests and consultations were also used. Of 3529 neonates, 768 (21/8%) were born of a consanguineous marriage and the remaining 2761 (78.2%) from non-consanguineous marriage. Totally, 109(3.08%) deliveries were led to neonate’s anomaly, of these 7.03% were in the consanguineous marriage group (72.3% in first-cousin marriage and 27.7% in second-cousin marriage) and 2% in the other group. The prevalence of consanguineous marriage in our study was relatively high and the rate of neonate anomaly of consanguineous marriage was more than what expected. Obviously, in case of consanguineous marriage, the rate of anomaly clearly increased.