Analysis of some determining factors of consanguinity in North Morocco: a cross-sectional epidemiological study

Abstract

Introduction: consanguinity represents a serious concern for public health. It represents 20 to 55% of unions in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. The present work aims to find out some determining factors of consanguinity and isonymy in the population of North Morocco. Methods: it consists of a cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted on 238 couples from the region of Tanger-Tetouan located northwest of Morocco. The studied variables were consanguinity, isonymy, union type, geographical origin, education level, profession, ethnicity, and belonging to Shorfas. Results: the results showed that consanguineous couples represent 45.4%. Among them, unions between first cousins are predominant with 91%, among which the union with the daughter of the father´s brother represents 56%. The risk analysis showed that both husbands and wives with higher education levels display significantly lower risk of being in a consanguineous union (OR=0,36; IC 95% = 0,19- 0,65). Furthermore, wives of urban origin have a significantly lower chance of being in a consanguineous union (OR=0, 51; IC 95% =0,26-1,011). Regarding isonymy, we found that belonging to Shorfas is significantly associated with isonymous unions in both husbands and wives (p=0.04 and p=0.001 respectively). Moreover, urban-origin males display a significantly lower chance of being in isonymous unions (OR=0.35; IC 95% =0.15- 0.80). Conclusion: health authorities should make more efforts to raise the awareness of young people of the health disorders caused by consanguineous marriages.