A woman and her child stroll along the Bund in Shanghai August 24, 2004. (China Photos/Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
New mothers with a history of
depression or other psychiatric disorders appear more likely
than other women to attempt suicide soon after giving birth, a
new study suggests.

Researchers found that among nearly 1,800 women who
recently gave birth, those with a history of a psychiatric
disorder were 27 times more likely to attempt suicide in the
year after having their baby.

Similarly, women with a history of substance abuse had a
six-fold increase in their risk of attempted suicide.

Postpartum suicide is rare, but the new findings point to a
group of women who may be at greatest risk, the researchers
note in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Women, their families and their doctors should be aware
that past psychiatric disorders and substance abuse are risk
factors for postpartum suicide, lead researcher Dr. Katherine
A. Comtois, of the University of Washington School of Medicine
in Seattle, told Reuters Health.

The findings are based on hospital records from women who
gave birth in Washington State between 1992 and 2001. The
researchers identified 355 women who were hospitalized for a
suicide attempt in the year after giving birth; they matched
each of these women with another four who had given birth in
the same year but did not attempt suicide.

Overall, Comtois and her colleagues found, the risk of
postpartum suicide was markedly higher among women who'd been
hospitalized with a psychiatric disorder, substance abuse
problem or both 5 years before giving birth.

Such diagnoses are “clearly important risk factors” of
which families and medical providers should be aware, Comtois
said.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
recently recommended that women be screened for depression and
other “psychosocial risk factors” during prenatal care, Comtois
and her colleagues note in the report.

“Future studies,” they write, “should evaluate the
effectiveness of screening for psychiatric and substance use
disorders on decreasing adverse outcomes such as suicide
attempts during the postpartum period.”

SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, August
2008.