Suicide ideation across reproductive life cycle of women. Results from a European epidemiological study.

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study is to compare suicide ideation among women in the pre-, peri-, and post-menopause using a cross-sectional household survey of non-institutionalised adults from six European countries. METHODS In total, 8794 out of 21,425 respondents provided data for the following study. To use men as a comparison group, we defined three different groups of male subjects, based on the mean age of the women groups. RESULTS We found an increased risk of suicide ideation among women in their peri-menopause compared with women in their pre- or post-menopause and men. This finding was independent of mood and anxiety disorders. LIMITATIONS Some categories showed few individuals. The cross-sectional design of our study does not allow us to conclude causal relationship between variables. CONCLUSION The occurrence of suicide ideation varies across the reproductive life cycle of women.