Volume 33, Issue 2 e14000
REVIEW ARTICLE

Insomnia, poor sleep quality and perinatal suicidal risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Laura Palagini

Corresponding Author

Laura Palagini

Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Correspondence

Laura Palagini, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

Email: [email protected]

Contribution: Conceptualization, ​Investigation, Writing - original draft, Methodology, Validation, Writing - review & editing

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Enrico Cipriani

Enrico Cipriani

President of the Italian Section of the Marcè Society for Perinatal Psychopathology, Milan, Italy

Contribution: Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Data curation

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Mario Miniati

Mario Miniati

Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Contribution: ​Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Supervision, Writing - review & editing

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Alessandra Bramante

Alessandra Bramante

President of the Italian Section of the Marcè Society for Perinatal Psychopathology, Milan, Italy

Contribution: Supervision

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Angelo Gemignani

Angelo Gemignani

Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular, and Critical Area Pathology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Contribution: Methodology, Validation, Visualization

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Pierre A. Geoffroy

Pierre A. Geoffroy

Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, AP-HP, GHU Paris Nord, DMU Neurosciences, Hôpital Bichat – Claude Bernard, Paris, France

Centre ChronoS, GHU Paris – Psychiatry & Neurosciences, Paris, France

Université Paris Cité, NeuroDiderot, Inserm, Paris, France

CNRS UPR 3212, Institute for Cellular and Integrative Neurosciences, Strasbourg, France

Contribution: Writing - review & editing, Supervision

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Dieter Riemann

Dieter Riemann

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center- University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

Contribution: Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing - review & editing, Supervision

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First published: 13 July 2023
Citations: 6

Summary

Suicidal risk in mothers is a public health priority. Risk factors include biological, psychological and psychosocial factors. Among the biological factors, the role of sleep disturbances as potential contributors to increased suicidal risk during the peripartum period is becoming apparent. To explore this further, we conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA criteria. Currently, 10 studies have examined the role of insomnia and poor sleep quality in suicidal risk during the peripartum period and have involved 807,760 women. The data showed that disturbed sleep and poor sleep quality increase the risk of suicidal ideation in both pregnant women with and without perinatal depression. The results of the meta-analysis indicated that insomnia and poor sleep quality increase the odds of suicidal risk in pregnant women by more than threefold (OR = 3.47; 95% CI: 2.63–4.57). Specifically, the odds ratio (OR) for poor sleep quality was 3.72 (95% CI: 2.58–5.34; p < 0.001), and for insomnia symptoms, after taking into account perinatal depression, was 4.76 (95% CI: 1.83–12.34; p < 0.001). These findings emphasise the importance of assessing and addressing sleep disturbances during the peripartum period to mitigate their adverse effects on peripartum psychopathology and suicidal risk.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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