Comorbid Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety Common in Fathers After Their Children Are Born

More than 1 in 5 fathers have symptoms of depression and anxiety at some point during the first year after their children are born, astudy inDepression and Anxiety has found.“The high rate of comorbidity between depression and anxiety among fathers demonstrates the importance of screening and early intervention for both depression and anxiety in men during the postpartum period,” wrote Cindy-Lee Dennis, Ph.D., of the University of Toronto and colleagues.In the study, which ran from 2015 through 2019, couples separately completed a baseline questionnaire via telephone after the birth of their child and then completed follow-up questionnaires online at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months postpartum. The primary outcome was comorbid depression and anxiety symptoms in fathers as measured by the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the 20-item State subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Overall, 2,544 fathers provided data for at least one time point during the first year postpartum, and 2,442 fathers provided data during the second year.The researchers found that 22.4% of fathers had comorbid depression and anxiety symptoms at some point in the first year postpartum, and 13.2% of fathers had comorbid symptoms at some point in the second year postpartum. Overall, 2.2% of fathers had comorbid symptoms at baseline, and approximately 8% to 9% of fathers had comorbid symptoms at any time point in the study up to 24 months. Fathers were more likely to experience com...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: anxiety Cindy-Lee Dennis comorbid depression and anxiety fathers University of Toronto Source Type: research