Table 1.

Female suicide across the life cycle: main studies.

Authors	Population	Main results
Childhood, adolescence, and youth women
Biddle et al., [50]	England and Wales, 1968–2005. Men and women aged 15–34 years	Suicide rates stability over time. In the 21st century recording lowest rate
Grøholt et al., [41]	Norway, 1990–1992. All suicide in people under 20 years	Teenage girls suicide victims died mainly by hanging. They were more often affected by problems with parents, wrote farewell note, and had previous suicide attempts
Eaton et al., [37]	Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) USA, 2007. 1268 primary students	Adolescent women from 13 years of age show an abrupt increase of suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts
Gunnell et al., [48]	Mortality data England and Wales, 1950–1998	Suicide rates decreases in women aged over 45 years. Risk greater in women aged 25–34 years associated to participation in the workforce
Lewinsohn et al., [43]	USA (Western Oregon), 1987–1989. 1709 adolescents (aged 14–18)	Suicide attempts hazard rate in female adolescents greater than males adolescents. Adolescent suicidal behavior predicted suicide attempts during young adulthood for females
Role of reproductive cycle and maternity
Appleby, [61]	England and Wales, 1973–1984. Women aged 15–44 years committed suicide in the year after childbirth or during pregnancy	Women in the first year after childbirth or during pregnancy have a low-risk suicide despite their high rate of psychiatry morbidity women who committed suicide after childbirth most often did at the first month
Czeizel, [71]	Budapest, 1960–1993. 1044 pregnant women aged 14–44 years	Maximum number of suicide attempts in pregnant women occurs in the group from 18 to 20 years. Most unplanned pregnancies and main method used poisoning
Da silva et al., [65]	Brazil, 2006–2008. 1414 women pregnant treated in the public health system	There is greater suicidality in pregnant women who have depressive and anxiety symptoms
Gissler et al., [68]	Finland, 1987–1994. 1347 women aged 15–49 years that committed suicide	The risk of suicide was at its highest during the first two months after the end of pregnancy and mainly in the age group 35–39 years
Samandari et al., [85]	North Carolina surveillance and vital statistics data from 2004–2006. Women reproductive age, 14–44 years	Greater percentages of pregnant/postpartum suicide victims never married compared to no pregnant/no postpartum suicide victims
Middle-aged women
Burrows et al., [31]	Canada (Québec), 1990–2005. People 10 years and older	Suicide mortality in women increases in the time. Rate suicide is highest between 25 and 44 years (2002–2005)
Bramness et al., [87]	Norwegian, 1994–2007. 131362 people (69774 women) aged 39–44 years	More self-report mental health problems among females than males. Increased risk of suicide with higher self-report depressive and anxiety symptoms
Cutright et al., [88]	Suicide rates of married and not married females in 12 developed countries, 1960	The suicide rate is higher in not married females mainly age group 35–44 years. Being married is a protective factor.
Karch et al., [2]	United States, 2009. National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). 15981 fatal incidents (60.6% suicides)	Females among ages 35 and 64 years accounted for 64.8% of suicides. Rates suicide for females peaked at 9.1 per 100,000 among those aged 45–54 years
White and Holmes, [89]	Mortality database WHO, men and women aged 15–44 years across 44 countries	Suicide rate in women increases with age. Group 15–24 years (14.1), group 25–34 years (21.7), and group 35–44 years (23.8)
Oldest women
Erlangsen et al., [90]	Danish population, 1994–1998. People 50 years or above	During first year of widowhood the suicide risk increases in ages over 80 years. The highest rate of suicide is reached in the group 65–79 years and then declines over 80 years
Klein et al., [53]	Switzerland (Canton), 1995–2007. 3431 cases of suicide	Suicide risk increases with age. Women's group of the 50–89 years rates the highest. Main methods used poisoning, hanging, and firearm
Pridemore and Spivak, [27]	Mortality date Russian, 1965–1999	Suicide rates increased about 17% in the last three decades. Suicide rate in women increases with age reaching its peak over 80 years. Risk factor in females that reside alone
Wanta et al., [91]	Wisconsin's. USA, 2001–2006. People over 65 years	The suicide rates in women decrease with age. Protective factor is being married.
Zeppegno et al., [92]	Date on suicide in Italy (Novara and Verbania), 1990–2000. People 65 and older years	Suicide rates in women increase over 74 years. Greater risk of suicide in divorced, widowed, and single