A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that pregnant and postpartum women with schizophrenia had a risk of going to the ER for interpersonal violence that is more than three times higher than that of people without schizophrenia.

In comparison to women without major mental illness, women with schizophrenia have a risk of experiencing physical or sexual violence of roughly 1 in 5 (20.7%) throughout their lifetime. 

The study included more than 1.8 million pregnant women between the ages of 15 and 49, 4470 of whom had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Individuals with schizophrenia were more likely to reside in a low-income area, have additional psychiatric and chronic medical illnesses, and have visited the emergency department (ED) for interpersonal violence in the two years before becoming pregnant.

Results showed that compared to 0.4% of individuals without schizophrenia, 3.1% of people with schizophrenia visited an emergency room for interpersonal violence during pregnancy and the first year after giving birth. Interpersonal violence was more frequently self-reported by pregnant people with schizophrenia (10.2% vs. 2.4%), but screening for it was equally as common (74.3% vs. 73.8%).

Also, it was seen that schizophrenia was linked to a six-fold increase in the likelihood of experiencing an ED visit for interpersonal violence in both pregnancy and postpartum among study participants who were screened but did not report interpersonal violence in pregnancy.

The study claims that regular violence screening in antenatal care settings is a crucial opportunity for intervention to prevent serious physical, psychological, and social harm to these patients and their young ones.

(Source: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230306/Women-with-schizophrenia-have-threefold-risk-of-interpersonal-violence-during-and-after-pregnancy.aspx)