Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T08:47:20.499Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parasuicide in the first postnatal year

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Louis Appleby  and
Gill Turnbull
Louis Appleby*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester; Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital, London
Gill Turnbull
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester; Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Louis Appleby, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester M20 8LR.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Data were collected on a consecutive 6 month sample of women aged 15–44 years attending their catchment area Casualty Department because of parasuicide. Information included age and childbirth within the previous year. Using this information and catchment area data on population size and births, an odds ratio for parasuicide in postnatal as compared to nonpostnatal women was calculated. Five of 131 study subjects had delivered a baby in the previous 12 months. The odds ratio was calculated to be 0·43 (95% confidence interval 0·17–0·95). These findings suggest that the rate of parasuicide in the first postnatal year is low despite the high rate of psychiatric morbidity at this time. The result supports previous findings on suicide and suggests that postnatal women, despite their high rates of psychiatric disorder, are protected against fatal and non-fatal self harm. The implications for postnatal and suicide prevention services are discussed.

Type
Brief Communications
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 5 , September 1995 , pp. 1087 - 1090
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appleby, L. (1991). Suicide during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year. British Medical Journal 302, 137–140.Google Scholar
Breslow, N. E. & Day, N. E. (1987). Statistical Methods in Cancer Research, Vol. 2. The Design and Analysis of Cohort Studies. International Agency for Research on Cancer: Lyons.Google Scholar
Durkeim, E. (1951). Suicide. (Translated by Spalding, J. A. & Simpson, G.). Free Press: New York.Google Scholar
Hoyer, G. & Lund, E. (1993). Suicide among women related to number of children in marriage. Archives of General Psychiatry 50, 134–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendell, R. E., Chalmers, J. C. & Platz, C. (1987). Epidemiology of puerperal psychoses. British Journal of Psychiatry 150, 622–673.Google Scholar
Kreitman, N. (1988). Suicide, age and marital status. Psychological Medicine 18, 121–128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kumar, R. & Robson, K. M. (1984). A prospective study of emotional disorders in childbearing women. British Journal of Psychiatry 144, 35–47.Google Scholar
Linehan, M. M., Goodstein, J. L., Nielsen, S. L. & Chiles, J. A. (1983). Reasons for staying alive when you are thinking of killing yourself: the Reason For Living Inventory. Journal of Consulling and Clinical Psychology 51, 276–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, H. G., Burns-Cox, C. J., Pocock, H. & Pottle, S. (1975). Deliberate self-harm: clinical and socio-economic characteristics of 368 patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 127, 564–574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed