Maternal bereavement shortly before or during pregnancy and risk of postpartum psychotic illness: a population-based study from Denmark and Sweden

• Published in: Clinical Epidemiology
• Main Authors: Warselius,Pauline, Cnattingius,Sven, Li,Jiong, Wei,Dang, Valdimarsdottir,Unnur Anna, Kosidou,Kyriaki, Reutfors,Johan, Olsen,Jørn, Vestergaard,Mogens, Obel,Carsten, Lászlo,Krisztina D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Press 2019
• Subjects: Clinical Epidemiology; Sven; Iceland
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/maternal-bereavement-shortly-before-or-during-pregnancy-and-risk-of-po-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-CLEP

Pauline Warselius,1 Sven Cnattingius,1 Jiong Li,2 Dang Wei,3 Unnur Anna Valdimarsdottir,4,5 Kyriaki Kosidou,3,6 Johan Reutfors,1 Jørn Olsen,2,7 Mogens Vestergaard,8,9 Carsten Obel,8,9 Krisztina D László31Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 2Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; 3Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 4Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 5Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland; 6Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm County’s Health Care District, Stockholm, Sweden; 7Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 8Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; 9Research Unit and Section for General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, DenmarkPurpose: Postpartum psychosis is a rare but severe complication following childbirth, with unknown etiology. This study investigated whether the death of a close family member — a source of severe stress — the year before or during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of psychotic illness in the postpartum period among women without and with a history of psychiatric disorder.Methods: We studied live births in Denmark during 1978–2008 and births in Sweden during 1973–2006 (n=5,246,978). Information on death of women’s relatives and partners and sociodemographic, health-, and pregnancy-related factors was obtained through linkage with nationwide registries.Results: The death of a close relative the year before or during pregnancy was not associated with psychotic illness during the first 90 days postpartum among women without (adjusted HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.76–1.37) or with a history of psychiatric disorder (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.74–1.25). Similarly, there was no association between bereavement and risk of ...