New mothers in the most deprived areas twice as likely to die by suicide

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

New mothers in the most deprived areas of the UK and Ireland are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than those in the least deprived areas, according to an analysis of maternal mortality data.

The findings, highlighted during Mental Health Awareness Week by the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), come from the latest report from the MBRRACE-UK collaboration, which reviewed all maternal deaths across the UK and Ireland between 2021 and 2023.

These figures show that suicide is still the leading cause of maternal death in the year after childbirth. Combined, all deaths linked to psychiatric causes including suicide, severe mental illness and substance misuse, account for around a third (34%) of maternal deaths between six weeks and a year after pregnancy.

A clear inequality emerges when the figures are broken down by deprivation, the RCPsych stated. About 31% of maternal suicides were in the most deprived communities, compared with 13% in the least deprived areas.