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Consanguinity, prematurity, birth weight and pregnancy loss: a prospective cohort study at four primary health center areas of Karnataka, India
Bellad, MB., Goudar, SS., Edlavitch, SA., Mahantshetti, NS., Naik, V., Hemingway-Foday, J., Gupta, M., Nalina, HR., Derman, R., Moss, N., & Kodkany, BS. (2012). Consanguinity, prematurity, birth weight and pregnancy loss: a prospective cohort study at four primary health center areas of Karnataka, India. Journal of Perinatology, 32(6), 431-437. https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2011.115
Objective: To determine whether consanguinity adversely influences pregnancy outcome in South India, where consanguinity is a common means of family property retention. Study Design: Data were collected from a prospective cohort of 647 consenting women, consecutively registered for antenatal care between 14 and 18 weeks gestation, in Belgaum district, Karnataka in 2005. Three-generation pedigree charts were drawn for consanguineous participants. chi(2)-Test and Student's t-test were used to assess categorical and continuous data, respectively, using SPSS version 14. Multivariate logistic regression adjusted for confounding variables. Result: Overall, 24.1% of 601 women with singleton births and outcome data were consanguineous. Demographic characteristics between study groups were similar. Non-consanguineous couples had fewer stillbirths (2.6 vs 6.9% P = 0.017; adjusted P = 0.050), miscarriages (1.8 vs 4.1%, P = 0.097; adjusted P = 0.052) and lower incidence of birth weight <2500 g (21.8 vs 29.5%, P = 0.071, adjusted P = 0.044). Gestation <37 weeks was 6.2% in both the groups. Adjusted for consanguinity and other potential confounders, age <20 years was protective of stillbirth (P = 0.01), pregnancy loss (P = 0.023) and preterm birth (P = 0.013), whereas smoking (P = 0.015) and poverty (P = 0.003) were associated with higher rates of low birth weight. Conclusion: Consanguinity significantly increases pregnancy loss and birth weight <2500 g. Journal of Perinatology (2012) 32, 431-437; doi:10.1038/jp.2011.115; published online 18 August 2011