AIM/BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate socio-demographic and fertility features, opinions on consanguinity, and the types of congenital disorders encountered in the babies of women in consanguineous marriages in the Nilüfer Public Health Training and Research Area in the province of Bursa in northwest Turkey.
METHODS: This case-control study was conducted between September 2005 and March 2006. The case group consisted of 393 women in consanguineous marriages in the Nilüfer Public Health Training and Research Area; the control group consisted of 393 women of similar age living in the same neighborhoods but in non-consanguineous marriages.
RESULTS: Women involved in a consanguineous marriage were on average younger than women in the control group. The mean numbers of pregnancies, births, stillbirths, and living and deceased babies were all significantly higher among the consanguineous marriages. When the sample and the control groups were compared, it was obtained that the women in the case group were socio-economically in a lower status statistically, by means of their husbands and their own education and occupational status, than the women in the control group. The women in the case group were more likely to believe that consanguinity is not detrimental to a childs health, and they approved of consanguineous marriages for their own children. These opinions were held despite there being a significantly higher incidence of congenital disorders among the children of the consanguineous marriages.
CONCLUSION: Women there should be offered genetic counseling to help reduce the occurrence of children being born with congenital abnormalities.
Key words: Consanguineous marriage, Turkey, sociodemographic factors. Article Language: Turkish English
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