Research Highlight: Suicide Risk Among Childbearing Women
The extent of suicidality—suicidal ideation and/or intentional self-harm—among childbearing women is not well known. The Maternal Behavioral Health Policy Evaluation study sought to learn more about the subject. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) supported the research study.
In the study, researchers found that from 2006 to 2017, 2,683 childbearing women aged 15 to 44 were identified to be at risk for suicide in the year before or after giving birth. The data showed a three-fold increase in the documented prevalence of suicidality over the study period, increasing from 2 people to 6 people per 1,000.
Understanding trends in suicide risk in the year before and following childbirth, including which groups of women are at highest risk, could help inform research and suicide prevention interventions.
Read about the study here.
|