Abstract

Objective: To find the association between consanguinity and stillbirths in our area.
Methodology: This study used a survey with emphasize on explanatory research design. The research adopted theoretical sampling technique and selected a sample size of 500 married couples from District Headquarter Hospital, Nankana Sahib, Pakistan. We employed multiple linear regression with the help of SPSS 20.
Results: We found that consanguinity was positively and significantly associated with stillbirths. The probability of still birth increased by 0.11031 times for maternal cousin marriage and increased by 0.50645 times for paternal cousin. On the same token, increase in age decreased the chances of stillbirths by -0.3527 times and -0.05977 for the age of husband. Similarly, increase in level of education decreased the probability of stillbirth by -2.33571 from secondary to higher level of education.
Conclusion: Consanguineous marriage increases the chances of stillbirths and this trend is stronger for paternal cousin marriage than maternal cousin marriage. The study further found that age of women, age of husband, and age at first birth and level of education were significantly associated with stillbirths.

Key words: Consanguineous marriage, still births, miscarriage.