Association between consanguineous marriages and risk of pre-eclampsia

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.

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.

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.

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.