Association between consanguinity and survival of marriages

Background and purposeThe present study was performed to investigate the association between consanguineous marriages and divorce risk.Materials and methodsA total of 496 couples at divorce time and 800 couples from general population who have no plan for divorce (as control group) were included in the study.ResultsCompared to unrelated marriages, first cousin (OR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.27–0.56, P < 0.001), first cousin once removed (OR = 0.18, 95% CI: 0.05–0.62, P = 0.006) and second cousin marriages (OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.17–0.78, P = 0.009) decreased the risk of divorce. The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed that the survival of marriage was lower significantly for unrelated marriages than first cousin marriages, after adjusted for educational level (HR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.35–0.67, P < 0.001).ConclusionThe present findings indicate that consanguinity has some protective role(s) against divorce and also survival of marriages increased among consanguineous marriages. Considering that divorce rate is affected by several factors, replication of present findings in other populations is recommended.