CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES IN A SAUDI POPULATION AND THE EFFECT OF INBREEDING ON PRENATAL AND POSTNATAL MORTALITY

Consanguineous marriages are strongly favoured in the Saudi population . A population-based study of consanguineous marriages was conducted i n the Riyadh area. The prevalence rate of consanguineous marriages was 51.3% with an average inbreeding coefficient of 0.02265, which is hig h compared with many other countries. The most important variables aff ecting inbreeding were the regional background of the family (P < 0.00 1) and the level of education, which was inversely associated with con sanguineous marriage (p < 0.001). Perinatal and postnatal mortalities were not significantly different between consanguineous and non-consan guineous families.