The frequency of consanguineous marriages and their relations to the outcomes of pregnancy in aydin

This is a cross-sectional study conducted to examine the frequency of consanguineous marriage and its relationship with pregnancy outcomes among married women in 15-49 age group. The sample group consisted of 310 women residing in the public health center areas in the provincial center of Aydın.The study data were collected between November 2008 and January 2009 by the researcher, using face-to-face interview technique, and a questionnaire that inquire the women?s characteristics and the independent variables of the study. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were employed to evaluate the data.The participant women had a mean age of 31.57+9.00. It was determined that 53.5% of the women were primary school graduates, 78.7% were housewives, 46.1% spent most of their lives in the city center, and 81.9% lived in nuclear families.It was found that 23.9% of the participants had consanguineous marriages of whom 45.9% married a first-degree cousin, 29.3 married a distant relative, and 24.3 married a second-degree cousin.Of those women having consanguineous marriages, only 13.5% received genetic counseling. The most frequent reason for consanguineous marriages among the women is marriages pre-arranged by families, with a percentage of 44.5%. 77.7% of the women believe that consanguineous marriage is detrimental to the health of the offspring. 87.9% of the women stated that they were happy about having consanguineous marriages.It could be suggested that health staff should inform and encourage the women having consanguineous marriages about genetic counseling, people should be enlightened through the mass media about the risks and harms of consanguineous marriages, and further studies should be carried out to examine women?s opinions about consanguineous marriages.Keywords: Consanguineous marriage, pregnancy outcomes, genetic counseling