American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on February 19, 2007
American Journal of Epidemiology 2007 165(7):742-752; doi:10.1093/aje/kwk108
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ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
Effect of Consanguinity on Birth Weight for Gestational Age in a Developing Country
1 Department of Pediatrics, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
2 School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
3 Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
4 Department of Family Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
5 Department of Pediatrics, Rizk Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon
Correspondence to Dr. Khalid Yunis, Pediatrics Department, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, P.O. Box 11-0236, Riad El-Solh, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon (e-mail: kayunis{at}aub.edu.lb).
Received for publication December 29, 2005. Accepted for publication March 24, 2006.
Consanguinity, the marriage between relatives, has been associated with adverse child health outcomes because it increases homozygosity of recessive alleles. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of consanguinity on the birth weight of newborns in Greater Beirut, Lebanon. Cross-sectional data were collected on 10,289 consecutive liveborn singleton newborns admitted to eight hospitals belonging to the National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network during the years 2000 and 2001. Birth weight was modeled by use of the fetal growth ratio, defined as the ratio of the observed birth weight to the median birth weight for gestational age. A mixed-effect multiple linear regression model was used to predict the net effect of first- and second-cousin marriage on the birth weight for gestational age, accounting for within-hospital clustering of data. After controlling for medical and sociodemographic covariates, the authors found a statistically significant negative association between consanguinity and birth weight at each gestational age. No significant difference was observed in the decrease in birth weight between the first- and second-cousin marriages. Overall, consanguinity was associated with a decrease in birth weight for gestational age by 1.8% (ß = –0.018, 95% confidence interval: –0.027, –0.008). The largest effects on fetal growth were seen with lower parity and smoking during pregnancy.
birth weight; consanguinity; developing countries; gestational age; Lebanon
Abbreviations: NCPNN, National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network
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