Monday, February 8, 2016

Attitude of Saudi Arabian Adults Towards Consanguineous Marriage

Background: 
Research on the attitudes of Saudi adults towards consanguinity is scarce. The study aimed to explore the attitudes towards consanguinity and its associations with socio-demographic characteristics in a sample of Saudi adults.

Methods: 
A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 386 outpatient waiting-area attendees at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City-Riyadh were included. Participants were asked about their socio-demographic characteristics, attitude towards consanguinity and the reasons behind this.

Results: 
The positive attitude towards consanguinity among the study respondents was 48.1% with 95% confidence interval (42.91–53.33%). Social and traditional culture (59.9%) were found to be the predominant reasons for favoring consanguinity in Saudi Arabia. Evidence against a positive attitude towards consanguinity was noted in respondents who received medical information about consanguinity versus those who had not received medical information (42.3% vs. 57%, p-value = 0.008). According to the multivariate logistic model, the odds of a positive attitude towards consanguinity were 2 times higher for males (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.147, 4.290) and 4.1 times higher in respondents in consanguineous marriages (aOR: 4.1; 95% CI: 2.350, 7.156). The odds of a positive attitude towards consanguinity were 50% less in respondents who received health information on consanguinity compared to those who had not received health information about consanguinity (aOR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.253, 0.863).

Conclusion: 
One in every two Saudi adults favors consanguinity however, Saudi men and women differ in their attitudes towards consanguinity. Receiving health information on consanguinity was associated with a negative attitude towards this practice.

...Consanguinity is a worldwide issue, but particularly so in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia was ranked as the second highest Arab country to have a high frequency of consanguineous marriage, with the prevalence varying in different studies from 22–55%. Exploring the attitude towards consanguineous marriages and its health-related issues among Saudis is an attempt to clarify such a problem and suggest some solutions. In this study, the positive attitude towards consanguinity among the respondents was high, with approximately half of the respondents having a positive attitude towards consanguinity...

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/P3wxM1

1College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
3College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Ahsaa, Saudi Arabia
4College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
5College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
6King Abdullah Specialist Children Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia




No comments:

Post a Comment