Suicidal behaviours in the peripartum period: a systematic scoping review of data linkage studies

Suicide and Maternal Mortality

“…Just as it is challenging to accurately measure the prevalence of suicide in the perinatal period, it is also difficult to determine with certainty how the prevalence of suicide during pregnancy and postpartum compares to the prevalence of suicide among non-perinatal individuals. Comparator groups vary widely across studies, with the age range for “childbearing age” ranging from 10 up to 54 years in different studies [ 13 ].…”

“…In a recent review of suicidal behaviors, Meurk et al [ 13 ] comment on the health service utilization behaviors associated with suicide in the perinatal period, highlighting a study in which women who died of suicide were more likely to have had contact with healthcare services between delivery and death [ 13 , 57 ]. Additionally, they note that peripartum women who died by suicide were more likely to have had a mental health contact (in primary care or in specialty care) in the year prior to their death than peripartum women who did not die.…”

“…There is also a lack of standardization in how the term “postpartum” is used. It is variously defined as starting from the time of delivery date, registration of a live birth, or registration of fetal death, leading to further variation in reported rates [ 13 ].…”

“…There are many ways to increase the accuracy of measurement of perinatal suicide prevalence, for example, increasing autopsy rates and using postmortem pregnancy tests [ 17 ] and “database autopsy” [ 18 ] in which national hospitalization records are used to create a sequential narrative to identify the cause of maternal death. Data gathered from multiple sources such as death certificates, reports of postmortem examinations linked to health administrative data for hospital admissions, and outpatient mental health codes [ 13 ] can increase accuracy of prevalence rates and also capture the multiple and variable clinical contacts that can occur through pregnancy and postpartum or shed light on socioeconomic factors which contribute to risk for perinatal mental health problems such as interpersonal violence, housing stability, or poverty [ 13 ].…”

“…As compared to women with no PS, infants of women with PS presented lower scores in neuropsychological development Meltzer-Brody and Kimmel [ 117 ] The Promise of Telepsychiatry to Reduce Maternal Mortality by Increasing Access to Maternal Mental Health and Addiction Services Editorial Telepsychiatry to improve access to perinatal mental health and substance treatment N/A N/A N/A Limited access to mental health and addiction services during the perinatal period has prevented patients from connecting with psychiatric services. Telepsychiatry provides an opportunity to deliver this to patients in need Meurk [ 13 ] Suicidal behaviors in the peripartum period: a systematic scoping review of data linkage studies Scoping review Review of 18 studies related to suicidal behaviors in the peripartum period N/A N/A Suicidal behaviors Data linkage can be used to improve understandings of risk factors and pathways and to examine both health and social services utilization among women and children Miksic et al [ 30 ] Depression and Suicidality during Pregnancy Cross-sectional Pregnant women 110 EPDS SI 26.36% scored positive for perinatal depression. 2.73% endorsed rarely having SI Modini et al [ 66 ] Maternal deaths by suicide in Queensland, Austraila, 2004–2017: an analysis of maternal demographic, psychosocial and clinical characteristics Retrospective analysis Suicide deaths of women in Queensland during pregnancy or within 1 year after the end of pregnancy 65 maternal deaths by suicide (all cause n = 286) N/A Suicide Most maternal suicides followed live birth (46%), and 1/3 occurred in the 12 months after a termination of pregnancy.…”