The frequency of consanguineous marriages in Malatya city and its medical effects

In this study, the rate of consanguinity and its effects on spontaneous abortus, stillbirth, infant mortality, and birth defects were investigated in a population sample residing in Malatya city, Turkey. For this study, 409 randomly selected women, aboriginals of Malatya city, were interviewed at their home and the concerning information was obtained by administration of a questionnaire between November 2005 and June 2006. The prevalence of consanguinity was found to be 28.4% with the mean inbreeding coefficient of 0.010809. The most common type of consanguineous mating was first cousin marriages with the frequency of 74.2%. There was no correlation between the consanguinity and educational level of both sexes. The results revealed differences between consanguineous and non-consanguineous matings, in terms of spontaneous abortus and infant mortality. The incidence of consanguinity and of first cousin marriages is found to be very high in the Malatya city. A reduction of consanguinity rate is necessary for the health quality of the population. Key Words: Consanguinity marriage, spontaneous abortus, stillbirth, infant mortality, birth defects.