Regional variations in the prevalence of consanguinity in Saudi Arabia.
OBJECTIVE
To report on the prevalence of consanguinity in each region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including the variation in prevalence between urban and rural settlements.


METHODS
The study was conducted over 2 years (2004-2005). A cross-sectional sample determined by multistage random probability sampling of Saudi households from each of the 13 regions of the Kingdom. As part of survey questionnaire, the mother of each household was asked on the relationship to her husband to choose one of 3 answers: first-degree cousin, more distant relationship, or no relation.


RESULTS
The overall prevalence of consanguinity was 56% with the first-degree cousin (33.6%) being more common than all other relations (22.4%). The overall prevalence was significantly more common in rural (59.5%) than in urban settlements (54.7%) (p=0.000). There are regions with high prevalence of 67.2% such as Madina, and regions with significantly lower prevalence of 42.1% such as Al-Baha (p=0.000).


CONCLUSIONS
The national prevalence of consanguinity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains high. In addition, there are significant variations in the prevalence of consanguinity between certain regions as well as between rural and urban settlements that should be taken into consideration in further studies.
El-Mouzan
Mohammad I
MI
Department of Pediatrics, King Saud University, PO Box 2925, Riyadh 11461, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. drmouzan@gmail.com
Al-Salloum
Abdullah A
AA
Al-Herbish
Abdullah S
AS
Qurachi
Mansour M
MM
Al-Omar
Ahmad A
AA
D003241:Consanguinity; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*