Moderating effect of maternal characteristics on the relationship between consanguineous marriage and growth quality in Turkish neonates

Povzetek

The findings regarding the effect of consanguineous marriage on the growth structure of neonates, which increases the rate of recessive hereditary diseases by causing a decrease in the number of homozygous loci, is controversial. In this study, the effects of consanguineous marriage on the growth structure of neonates are discussed when the effect of some maternal characteristics is controlled. 225 healthy neonates and their mothers born in Sivas Cumhuriyet University Neonatology Clinic examined within the scope of the study, 100 of them were formed the group of relatives (f = 1/16) and 125 of them were formed the non-relatives (f = 0) group. The weight, height, head and chest girth measurements of the babies were taken, and the weight and height of the mothers were measured and the information regarding age, number of pregnancies, number of live births and education levels were recorded. It is observed that first-degree cousin marriages have no detectable effect on the four anthropometric mean vectors of male and female neonates when the effects of maternal characteristics are controlled. As conclusion it can be said that the strongest maternal effect on the growth level of neonates is mother's education level and mother's education level is the strongest moderator variable which controls the effect of consanguineous marriage.