Abstract
SIMPLE random sample of 4498 Saudi pregnant women was analysed to study the effect of consanguinity on pregnancy outcome. The rate of consanguinity was found to be 54.3% which com prised 31.4% of first cousins and 22.9% of other relatives. The average proportion of outcome was higher and over 50% within the consanguinous mar riages in all pregnancy outcome except prematurity and low birth weights.
In general, more unfavourable outcomes occurred among consanguinous than non-consanguinous mar riages. Perinatal, infant and neonatal deaths were the most deleterious outcomes among related marriages with 62%, 60.3% and 57.9% respectively. The differ ences between total consanguinity and unrelated mar riages in the infant and perinatal death categories were significant (P=0.05).