More than 5% of deaths in pregnant and new mothers due to suicide: Ontario study

Researchers in Ontario report that one of every 19 deaths in pregnant and new mothers in Ontario is due to suicide. The study also reveals that women who died by suicide during the perinatal period (i.e., during pregnancy and within one year after birth) used more lethal methods, such as hanging or jumping, rather than drug overdose, the most common means of suicide for nonperinatal women. Among the findings:

• In pregnant women, suicide on average occurred at 5 months and in the postpartum, about 7½ months after giving birth;
• Women living in urban centres of more than 100 000 people or small centres (less than 10 000 people) were more likely to die from suicide than women in other areas;
• The North West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), a sparsely populated part of the province, had the highest rates of suicide;
• More than 70% of women who died from perinatal suicide had been in contact with the healthcare system for mental health needs, compared with living mothers in the year prior to death (22%), but only about 40% had contact in the month before they died; and
• Most of the women who died during this period had a mood or anxiety disorder rather than a psychotic disorder.