Antenatal depression and anxiety in primiparous Polish mothers and fathers

Abstract

Objectives: Mood disturbances are the most prevalent mental health problems in expectant parents. The knowledge about the factors which increase the risk of perinatal depression is insufficient, especially in fathers. The aims of the present study were to estimate the prevalence and to compare mean levels of antenatal depression and anxiety as well as to examine the relationship between the risk for depression and anxiety in primiparous Polish parents.Material and methods: 250 parental couples participating in antenatal classes took part in the study. Depression and anxiety were measured with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), respectively. Paired t-test with bootstrapping was applied to compare parental EPDS, as well as STAI raw scores. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated for depression and anxiety scores for women and men separately. The factors predictive for the increased risk of depression were investigated with the use of a multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results: 10% of women and 4% of men were at risk of depression. High level of state anxiety was found in 7.7% of expectant mothers and 10% of fathers, whereas elevated state anxiety was found in 19% of both parents. EPDS scores correlated moderately with anxiety. The risk of depression was increased by state anxiety in the case of mothers and by trait anxiety in the case of fathers. Conclusions:High level of anxiety increases the risk of antenatal depression. Both parents should be screened for depression and anxiety in the prenatal period.

Prevalence of Perinatal Depression and Anxiety in Both Parents

“…In 6 studies (26%), data were presented for the antenatal period. [23][24][25][26][27][28] Two studies reported couple-level data for both antenatal and postnatal time points. 25,27 All studies were performed in high-income countries (according to World Bank gross national income per capita criteria), 29 apart from 1 that was performed in Brazil.…”

“…[17][18][19][20][21][22] Sample size varied from 51 couples to more than 12 000 couples. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Most studies assessed postnatal depression. In 6 studies (26%), data were presented for the antenatal period.…”

“…30 All studies used validated screening tools to assess risk of mood disorders. The most common tool was the EPDS, used for both mothers and fathers in 23 studies [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][30][31][32][33][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] (74%). Although the EPDS has been validated in many different settings, the cutoff varies, and this is reflected in the range of cutoffs used (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13).…”

“…33 One study used the Kessler-6 scale, which measures nonspecific distress or mental illness. 34 Studies [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][30][31][32][33][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] were grouped according to the outcome studied and key details are listed in the Table.…”

The social predictors of paternal antenatal mental health and their associations with maternal mental health in the Queensland Family Cohort prospective study

“…Among 157 first-time couples, perinatal mood and relationship satisfaction were the strongest predictors of postnatal depression among fathers (Matthey et al 2000 ). Perinatal depression was higher among Finnish men with lower education (Korja et al 2018 ), among New Zealand men with high self-reported stress and lower physical health (Underwood et al 2017 ), and higher in Polish men with high anxiety (Kiepura and Kmita 2020 ). Sleep patterns are also strong predictors of paternal declines in mental health, whereby men who sleep 5–6 h per night are at highest risk of AND and PND (Krueger and Friedman 2009 ; Wynter et al 2020 ).…”