title: The worldwide incidence of neonaticide: a systematic review.
abstract: Neonaticide is the killing of a neonate on the day of its birth by his/her own mother. Neonaticidal women were reported to be predominantly young, unmarried, and primiparous. The motive for murdering the newborn relates to the shame, the fear of rejection, and abandonment by significant others, and the social stigmas associated with an illegitimate birth. The goal of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature and identify population-based studies reporting the incidence of neonaticide in different countries. A total of 485 abstracts were screened. After applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 10 studies were selected. Additional searches identified two more articles. Most of these studies were from Europe, where incidence varied from 0.07 (Finland, 1980-2000 period) to 8.5 neonaticides per 100000 births (Austria, 1975-2001 period). More recent studies have indicated that a growing proportion of neonaticidal women are married, multiparous, and suffers from mental disorders. Preventive measures, such as anonymous free delivery, were shown to reduce the incidence of neonaticide, although this effect may be short-lived. Despite social and institutional changes, neonaticide persists even in the most socially advanced, liberal, and prosperous societies in the world.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IPUB - UFRJ), Avenida Venceslau Brás, 71 Fundos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cintia T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IPUB - UFRJ), Avenida Venceslau Brás, 71 Fundos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IPUB - UFRJ), Avenida Venceslau Brás, 71 Fundos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.|Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Universidade Federal Fluminense (MSM-UFF), Rua Marquês do Paraná, 303-3° Andar do Prédio Anexo, Niterói, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Valença
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Quantitative Methods in Health, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública (ENSP-FIOCRUZ), Rua Leopoldo Bulhões, 1480, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Evandro S F
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Coutinho
authors.affiliation: Center for Healthful Behavior Change, Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, 227 East 30th St, 6th Floor, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Girardin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jean-Louis
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IPUB - UFRJ), Avenida Venceslau Brás, 71 Fundos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.|Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Universidade Federal Fluminense (MSM-UFF), Rua Marquês do Paraná, 303-3° Andar do Prédio Anexo, Niterói, RJ, Brazil.|D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rua Diniz Cordeiro, 30, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22281-100, Brazil.|School of Psychological Sciences & Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, Monash University, Victoria, 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Leonardo F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Fontenelle
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IPUB - UFRJ), Avenida Venceslau Brás, 71 Fundos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. mmendlowicz@yahoo.com.|Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Universidade Federal Fluminense (MSM-UFF), Rua Marquês do Paraná, 303-3° Andar do Prédio Anexo, Niterói, RJ, Brazil. mmendlowicz@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mauro V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Mendlowicz
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007237:Infanticide / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012752:Shame; D057545:Social Stigma
keywords: Epidemiology; Infanticide; Neonaticide; Newborn murder; Shame; Social stigma