Women with perinatal depression are more likely to commit suicide even years later, study finds
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Women who experience depression during pregnancy or within a year after giving birth are more likely to commit suicide. Their high risk persists over the years.
This is according to two new studies published in JAMA Network Open and BMJ. Scientists have found that depression that begins during pregnancy or soon after it can have disturbing consequences for 18 years, writes The New York Times.
The research team analyzed records in Sweden’s national medical registers from 2001 to 2017. They compared data on more than 86,000 women who had perinatal depression with information on almost 866,000 women who did not suffer from the disease.
One study found that women with perinatal depression had three times the risk of suicidal behavior (attempted or completed suicide). The risks were greatest in the year after diagnosis, and although they decreased over time, years later were still twice as high compared to women without the disease.
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Another study found that women with perinatal depression were more than six times more likely to die by suicide than those without the diagnosis.
Suicide accounted for a large proportion of deaths among women diagnosed with perinatal depression: 149 of 522 deaths (28.5%). Among women without perinatal depression, there were 117 suicides out of 1,568 deaths (7.5%).
Women with perinatal depression were twice as likely to die within 18 years after pregnancy as women without the disorder.
The researchers also compared more than 20,000 women with perinatal depression to their biological sisters who gave birth at the same time and did not have the disorder.
The risk of suicidal behavior for sisters with perinatal depression was almost three times higher than for their relatives without the diagnosis. This suggests that depression plays a greater role in these outcomes than genetics or childhood environment, the researchers wrote.
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Research has shown that regardless of whether women have other mental health problems, perinatal depression increases the risk of suicidal behavior and death. This suggests that pregnancy-related depression may be more severe than other mental health disorders.
“This highlights the urgent need for close clinical monitoring and rapid intervention for this vulnerable population to prevent such devastating outcomes, regardless of pre-pregnancy history of psychiatric disorders.” – scientists note in the JAMA Open Network study.
Scientists also emphasize that perinatal depression, which affects 10-20% of women during or shortly after pregnancy, remains understudied and underdiagnosed.
We will remind you that a blood test can determine biomarkers of suicidal thoughts.
Read also: Depression in mothers can negatively affect their children’s university studies – study
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