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Intimate Partner Homicide Suicide: a Mini-Review of the Literature (2012–2018)

  • Mood Disorders (E Baca-Garcia, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Recent Findings

In homicide-suicide (HS), a perpetrator kills at least one victim and then commits suicide within a time frame, which is not consistently described in the literature. Most HS happen in an intimate partner relationship (HS-IP), but data about this phenomenon are still scant and poorly systematized.

Purpose of Review

To assess the research papers published about HS-IP from 2012 to 2018 in Pubmed and Scopus. Article selection followed the PRISMA flow diagram. Information was extracted from the selected articles and tabulated.

Summary

The 22 eligible articles focusing on different types of HS, including HS-IP, suggest that HS-IPs are predominantly committed by men, usually married, cohabiting, or recently separated from their partner, with a medium-low employment status; the victim is usually the current or former female partner. Heterogenity of HS makes it difficult to generalize the results. Implications emerge for the need to target domestic violence and firearm regulation.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatry Institute, Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Via Solaroli N°17, 28100, Novara, Italy

    Patrizia Zeppegno, Carla Gramaglia, Sarah di Marco, Chiara Guerriero, Cristiana Consol, Lucia Loreti & Maria Martelli

  2. SC Psichiatria, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Maggiore della Carità, Corso Mazzini N°18, 28100, Novara, Italy

    Patrizia Zeppegno, Carla Gramaglia & Debora Marangon

  3. National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental lll-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Vladimir Carli

  4. Department of Medicine and Mental Health, University of Molise, Via de Sanctis Campobasso, Rome, Italy

    Marco Sarchiapone

  5. National Institute for Health of Migration and Poverty, Via San Gallicano, Rome, Italy

    Marco Sarchiapone

  6. National Medical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Marco Sarchiapone

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  1. Patrizia Zeppegno
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Correspondence to Marco Sarchiapone.

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Appendix 1. Search Strings

Appendix 1. Search Strings

Pubmed:

- (“Homicide”[Mesh] AND “Suicide”[Mesh]) AND “Intimate Partner Violence”[Mesh] AND (“loattrfull text”[sb] AND (“2012/01/01”[PDAT]: “3000/12/31”[PDAT]) AND “humans”[MeSH Terms])

- ((“homicide”[MeSH Terms] OR “homicide”[All Fields]) AND (“suicide”[MeSH Terms] OR “suicide”[All Fields])) AND “intimate partner violence”[All Fields] AND (“loattrfull text”[sb] AND (“2012/01/01”[PDAT]: “3000/12/31”[PDAT]) AND “humans”[MeSH Terms])

Scopus:

- (TITLE-ABS-KEY (homicide) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (suicide) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (intimate AND partner AND violence)) AND PUBYEAR >2011

- (TITLE-ABS-KEY (homicide) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (suicide) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (partner)) AND PUBYEAR >2011

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Zeppegno, P., Gramaglia, C., di Marco, S. et al. Intimate Partner Homicide Suicide: a Mini-Review of the Literature (2012–2018). Curr Psychiatry Rep 21, 13 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-0995-2

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