Comparison of frequency of cousin and non-cousin marriage among parents of disabled and normal children

Cousin marriage appeared to have a significant role in the birth of disabled children. This is a comparative study on the frequency of cousin and non-cousin marriage among the parents of disabled children and parents of normal children in Kermanshah. In this Ex Post Facto research, employing simple random sampling, 250 parents of disabled children were selected, and the same sample size for parents of normal children was selected, applying simple cluster sampling. A checklist made by Afrouz in 2008 was utilized for collecting data. Chi-square was applied for data analyzing in SPSS-11.5 program. The findings showed that frequency of cousin marriage was higher among the parents of disabled children (64%) compared to the parents of normal children (26%). There was also significant difference between disabled child’s birth and type of parent’s marriage (P<0.001). Furthermore, the frequency of type of disability (blind, deaf, mental retarded, handicap) varied in different types of cousin marriage of parents. The study showed that cousin marriage is an important factor in the birth of disabled children. Therefore, proper actions should be taken in order to decrease the prevalence of disability amongst newborns including promotion of knowledge of youngsters and families about the risks of cousin marriage, and genetic consulting before and after marriage.