The prevalence of congenital malformations and its correlation with consanguineous marriages.

OBJECTIVES Consanguinity has been a long standing social habit among some Iranians. This study is aimed at determining the role of consanguinity on congenital malformations and the correlation of inbreeding coefficient with anomalies. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, all the newborns who were born during 9 months period from April to December 2008. (n=1195) at Shahid Sadoughi hospital, Yazd, Iran were studied. RESULTS From 1195 neonates, 300 (25%) were from consanguineous marriages and 895 (75%) were from non-familial marriages. From 45 cases with anomalies, 34 (2.8%) cases were from familial marriages, while only 11 (0.9%) cases were from non-familial marriages. There was a significant correlation between parental marriages and the prevalence of anomaly (p=0.018). CONCLUSION The prevalence of congenital anomalies was mostly observed in consanguineous marriages compared to non consanguineous marriages.