A Case - Control study of Prevalence of Consanguineous Marriage Among Parents of Handicapped and Healthy Children in Ahvaz

Previous studies showed that consanguineous marriage increases the incidence of mortality, congenital malformation and mental retardation in offsprings. One of the most important factors in appearance of disability and genetic diseases is consanguineous marriage in Iran. This study aimed to comparing the prevalence of family marriage in disable and healthy children's parents in Ahvaz city, Iran.Subjects and one hundred and thirty four disabled and 134 healthy children who were selected randomly in Ahvaz were evaluated in this case-control study and were matched by age and sex. Variables included consanguinity in parents, presence of a disabled person in the family, Mothers illness record and some parent's demographic factors. Data were collected by a questionnaire and analyzed by chi-square test, logistic regression and independent t-test. The study shows that the rate of family marriage in case and control groups was 79.1% and 57.4% respectively. There was a significant relationship between disability and consanguineous marriage, pregnancy age, history of convulsion and cyanosis, maternal diseases in pregnancy, being of a disabled family member and birth spacing from previous child (P0.05). Based on these findings consanguinity is the most important factor of genetic disorders and disability among the subjects studied. Therefore appropriate actions should be considered for decreasing the incidence of disability including: promotion of youth and families knowledge relating to risks of consanguineous marriage, available premarital genetic consulting and provision for prenatal screening tests.