Citation

Mittendorfer Rutz E, Rasmussen F, Wasserman D. Obstet. Gynecol. Surv. 2005; 60(3): 152-153.

Affiliation

Swedish National and Stockholm County Council Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP) at the National Institute of Psychosocial Medicine, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15735508

Abstract

Studies done to date have failed to consistently show whether there is an association between adverse obstetric, maternal, and neonatal conditions on the one hand and, on the other, an increased risk of suicide in the adolescent or early adult years. This cohort study sought relationships among fetal growth, obstetric complications, the mother's psychosocial and socioeconomic status, and the risk of suicide or attempted suicide in offspring reaching the early adult years. The study population included 713,370 live births in the years 1973-1980 that took place between 28 and 45 completed weeks gestation. They made up 91% of births identified in a medical birth register. Follow up averaged 22.7 years. The mean duration of pregnancy was 39.7 weeks; birth length, 50.5 cm; and birth weight, 3509 g.Low-birth-weight infants (below 2500 g) had a 2-fold increase in the risk of suicide compared with a reference group. The risk was significantly increased when the birth length was less than 47 cm. Compared with offspring of mothers aged 20-29 years, teenage mothers had a significant 2-fold increase in the risk of suicide. The risk also was significantly increased when the mother had no more than 10 to 12 years of education (compared to university-level or higher). Attempted suicides occurred significantly more often at the lowest birth weight and birth length. The only obstetric events significantly associated with more attempted suicides were hypertensive disease during pregnancy and cesarean section. Children born fourth or later in birth order were likelier to attempt suicide than those who were born second or third. Attempted suicides also were significantly more frequent for those whose mothers had the least education and those aged 19 years or less. A maternal age exceeding 29 years was protective to a significant degree. On multivariate analysis, the strongest predictors of suicide in the offspring were a maternal age of 19 years or less and low birth weight after adjusting for gestational age.In this population-based study, both restricted fetal growth and teenage motherhood significantly predicted suicide when the offspring reached early adulthood. These factors also predicted attempted suicides.