Prevalence of suicidal ideation in pregnancy and the postpartum: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Suicidal ideation, a significant risk factor of suicide, is considered a potential trigger for intervention prior to self-harm or suicide; however, the prevalence of maternal suicidal ideation varied widely between studies. This review aims to synthesis the available evidence to estimate the prevalence of maternal suicidal ideation before and after pregnancy.

We searched six English databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, CINAHL) and three Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wang Fang, Chinese Biomedical Literature Databases) from database inceptions before August 31, 2020; and checked the reference list for relevant studies. Data in the included studies were used to calculate the prevalence of maternal suicidal ideation. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were performed to detect the potential sources of heterogeneity.

6094 potentially studies were identified. 71 studies, including 23 cohort studies, 47 cross-sectional studies, and 1 RCT study, were included for final analysis. The total participants were 92146, with sample size ranged from 23 to 22118. The included studies were from 23 different countries distributing on six continents, most of the studies were conducted in Asia (n = 18), North America (n = 16), and South America (n = 15). The pooled prevalence of maternal suicidal ideation reported by eligible studies was 8% (95% CI 7-10%), with 10% in antenatal and 7% in postpartum. Prevalence significantly varied based on measuring tools, study design, study countries, and publication year, while prevalence was not conditional on the time-point assessment, sample size, and maternal age.

Obvious heterogeneity and no standardization tools for measuring suicidal ideation may limit the results' interpretation.

Our systematic review reported the prevalence of suicidal ideation in pregnancy and postpartum was 8%. Future studies should establish standardization tools for measuring suicidal ideation and identify strategies of prevention and treatment.