BackgroundPrevious studies have stressed the importance of tobacco exposure for the mood disorders of depression and anxiety. Although a few studies have focused on perinatal women, none have specifically considered the effects of smoking and secondhand smoke exposure on perinatal suicidal ideation. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the relationships of smoking/secondhand smoke exposure status with suicidal ideation, depression, and anxiety from the first trimester to the first month post partum.MethodsThis cross-sectional study based on self-reported data was conducted at five hospitals in Taipei, Taiwan from July 2011 to June 2014. The questionnaire inquired about women’s pregnancy history, sociodemographic information, and pre-pregnancy smoking and secondhand smoke exposure status, and assessed their suicidal ideation, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Logistic regression models were used for analysis.ResultsIn the 3867 women in the study, secondhand smoke exposure was positively associated with perinatal depression and suicidal ideation. Compared with women without perinatal secondhand smoke exposure, women exposed to secondhand smoke independently exhibited higher risks for suicidal ideation during the second trimester (odds ratio (OR) = 7.63; 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 3.25–17.93) and third trimester (OR = 4.03; 95 % CI = 1.76–9.23). Women exposed to secondhand smoke had an increased risk of depression, especially those aged 26–35 years (OR = 1.71; 95 % CI = 1.27–2.29).ConclusionsSecondhand smoke exposure also considerably contributes to adverse mental health for women in perinatal periods, especially for the severe outcome of suicidal ideation. Our results strongly support the importance of propagating smoke-free environments to protect the health of perinatal women.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3254-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The aims of study were to investigate risk factors associated with attempted and completed suicide. This nested case–control study was conducted using the medical and death data of nearly all pregnant women for the period 2002–2012 in Taiwan. A total of 139 cases of attempted suicide and 95 cases of completed suicide were identified; for each case, 10 controls were randomly selected and matched to the cases according to age and year of delivery. A conditional logistic regression model was used. The mean attempted and completed suicide rates were 9.91 and 6.86 per 100,000 women with live births, respectively. Never having married and postpartum depression also increased the risk of attempted suicide (OR = 2.06; 95% CI = 1.09–3.88 and OR = 2.51; 95% CI = 1.10–5.75, respectively) and completed suicide (OR = 20.27; 95% CI = 8.99–45.73 and OR = 21.72; 95% CI = 8.08–58.37, respectively). Other factors for attempted suicide included being widowed or divorced, and having a caesarean delivery or suicide history. Other factors for completed suicide included lower education level, low infant birth weight, and diagnosis of anxiety or mood disorder. These results suggest that people should appropriately assess potential risk factors and provide assistance for postnatal women to reduce the occurrence of suicide events.

The pattern of CO poisoning had changed markedly during the study period, with a significant increase in both the numbers of intentional and overall CO poisoning. Moreover, intentional CO poisoning was associated with a higher risk of neurological sequelae, which was mediated by various indicators of poisoning severity such as myocardial injury and GCS less than 9.