Association between obstetric care and risk of suicide

BMJ 1999;318:1211 ( 1 May )

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Association between obstetric care and risk of suicide

Study has methodological flaws

Authors' reply

Study has methodological flaws

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Jacobson and Bygdeman present intriguing data suggesting that the risk of suicide is influenced by birth trauma; theyargue that this may explain recent increases in suicide amongadolescents.¹ However, deficiencies in the design and analysisof this case-control study should be addressed before the findingsare accepted or possible mechanisms areconsidered.

The significant findings in Jacobson and Bygdeman's paper are confined to a subgroup of men who committed suicide using violentmethods, were born and died in the catchment area of Stockholm'sforensic medicine department, and had siblings whose birth recordswere available. The 175 males for whom the significant associationswere found probably represent 25% of all suicides. The authors'suggestion that the association is restricted to violent suicidesmight be tested by presenting separate risk estimates for violentand non-violent suicides. Furthermore, there is overlap in thecases included in this analysis and those included . . . [Full text of this article]

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Obstetric care and proneness of offspring to suicide as adults: case-control study: Bertil Jacobson and Marc Bygdeman
BMJ 1998 317: 1346-1349. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]