Association between consanguineous marriages and risk of pre-eclampsia.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this hospital-based case-control study was to assess the association between consanguinity and risk of pre-eclampsia in Shiraz (Fars Province, southern Iran) where the rate of consanguinity is relatively high.


METHODS
A total of 171 healthy pregnant women and 140 pre-eclamptic women were included. The healthy control group was frequency matched with the age of the pre-eclamptic women. Control women had no history of pregnancies with pre-eclampsia.


RESULTS
The prevalence of consanguinity was 42.8 and 30.9% in cases and controls, respectively. In univariate analysis, the mean inbreeding coefficient for cases (α = 0.0218) was higher than that of controls (α = 0.0174), denoting a significant difference (p = 0.02). When family history was entered as a covariate in multivariate analysis, adjusted odds ratios (OR) revealed that the first cousin once removed (OR = 4.11, 95% CI 1.32-12.7, p = 0.014) increased the risk of pre-eclampsia, in comparison with unrelated marriages.


CONCLUSIONS
Consanguinity in terms of first cousin once removed seems to be associated with pre-eclampsia after controlling for maternal age and family history of pre-eclampsia. Further investigations adjusting for other confounding factors are needed to confirm this information.
Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, 71454, Shiraz, Iran.
Zahra
Z
Anvar
Bahia
B
Namavar-Jahromi
Mostafa
M
Saadat
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003241:Consanguinity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors