Sociodemographic aspects of consanguineous marriage in an urban slum of a metropolitan area in İzmir, Turkey

Abstract

Background: Consanguineous marriage is a common practice in Turkey. Sociodemographic and cultural factors associated with it are still unclear.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between sociodemographic and fertility factors and consanguineous marriages in an urban slum of a metropolitan area in Turkey.

Methods: This community-based case-control study was conducted in Bayrakli Municipality health centres. Of the 1243 married women, 85 consanguineously married were included in the case group. A control group in non-consanguineous marriages consisted of 85 women matched to cases according to age and neighbourhood. Information about the subjects’ sociodemographic features, fertility history and opinions about consanguineous marriage was collected.

Results: Factors that were associated with consanguinity included; having a low level of education (OR = 2.7, CI = 1.1–6.7), a brief duration time in Izmir after migration (OR = 4.7, CI = 1.9–11.6) and consanguineous parents (OR = 3.8, CI = 1.5–9.7). Despite the increased numbers in fertility features and higher perinatal mortality for first cousin marriages, there was no significant difference in the mean numbers of pregnancies, births, stillbirths and living children.

Conclusion: Time after migration and educational background of women were the main factors associated with consanguineous marriages. Public health interventions to reduce consanguineous marriage in urban areas should target socioeconomically disadvantaged populations in cities.

Keywords::

• Sociodemographic
• fertility
• consanguinity
• case-control study

Acknowledgements

The research team thanks the midwives and junior midwives serving at the primary care departments of Bayrakli Municipality. Their routine surveillance service was of invaluable importance in determining and recording the information of women 15–49 years old. These records guided us in choosing the women for the case and control groups of our study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. This study was supported financially by the Scientific Research Projects (BAP) fund of Ege University.