Citation

Mahesan Paul AB, Simms L, Paul AE, Yorke J, Saroya T, Schmidseder C, Mahesan AA, Mahesan AM. J. Forensic Leg. Med. 2016; 44: 79-83.

Affiliation

Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA. Electronic address: am.mahesan@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jflm.2016.08.018

PMID

27642696

Abstract

This study reports descriptive data assessing the prevalence of various risk factors and associations among pregnancy-related death by unnatural causes (PRUD), namely suicide, homicide and accidental causes in the city of Las Vegas. In 7215 women referred for autopsy, results showed PRUD 0.1% (n = 37) was more common in the Caucasian race 45.9% (n = 17), and ages 20-30 years 43.2% (n = 16). We also identified high prevalence of mental illness 51.3% (n = 19) and low prenatal care 37.8% (n = 14), particularly in our suicide cohort 100.0% (n = 13), and 15.3% (n = 2) respectively. Our study demonstrates the first investigation to identify the relationship between mental illness, particularly mood and substance disorders with pregnancy-related unnatural death.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Language: en